Research Reports

HEI’s mission is to provide credible science to support environmental regulations and other policy decisions. The results of each HEI-funded project undergo peer-review by outside scientists and the Health Review Committee. The HEI Research Reports contain the Investigator’s Report and the Review Committee’s evaluation of the study, summarized in a Commentary or short Critique.

ISSN 1041-5505 (print)        ISSN 2688-6855 (online) 

Research Report 8
Joe L Mauderly
David E Bice
Robert L Carpenter
Nancy A Gillett
Rogene F Henderson
John A Pickrell
Ronald K Wolff
1987

Previous research has reported that the lung development of animals exposed to oxidant gases early in life might be impaired, or that developing lungs might be more susceptible than adult lungs to inhaled toxicants. Dr. Mauderly and colleagues at the Lovelace Biomedical and Environmental Research Institute examined the age-related differences in the physiological responses of rats to inhaled automotive emissions. The younger group was exposed during gestation and through the age of six months, while the older group was exposed between the age of six and twelve months.

Research Report 7
John D Groopman
1987

Research Report 7 describes a study that attempted to produce monoclonal antibodies to DNA adducts of nitropyrene that could be used to study the mechanism of nitropyrene-induced carcinogenesis or develop analytical techniques for monitoring exposed populations. Dr. Groopman immunized mice against nitropolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons conjugated with a carrier protein to study the progression of immune response. Dr. Groopman injected four antigens into groups of BALB/c, AJ, and NZB mice. Two of the antigens failed to produce any immune response.

Research Report 6
Deborah M Drechsler-Parks
1987

Dr. Drechsler-Parks and colleagues at the Institute of Environmental Stress sought to examine the effects of nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and peroxyacetyl nitrate on metabolic and pulmonary function. Because it is possible that two or more pollutants could interact in ambient air and cause effects that could not be predicted from the effects observed with the individual pollutants, the investigators examined varying levels of different pollutants in 32 non-smoking men and women (8 men and 8 women 18-26 years of age and 8 men and 8 women 51-76 years of age).

Research Report 5
Susan T Bagley
Linda D Dorie
David G Leddy
John H Johnson
1987

Dr. Bagley and colleagues at Michigan Technical University examined the chemical mutagenic effects of a ceramic particle trap on a medium-duty diesel engine. Diesel exhaust particles and vapor phase samples were collected from diluted (15:1) exhaust of a 10.4L displacement Caterpillar 3208 engine. The investigators compared uncontrolled (baseline) emissions with exhaust that had been modified by the use of an uncatalyzed monolithic ceramic trap.

Research Report 4
Frederick A Beland
1986

Nitrated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are common environmental contaminants that often contain genotoxic activity. Dinitropyrenes are a class of PAHs that are associated with diesel exhaust. In this study, Dr. Beland and colleagues at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences sought to determine what factors contribute to the extreme genotoxicity of dinitropyrenes in bacteria and to establish if the same factors were important for the genotoxicity of dinitropyrenes in mammalian systems.

Research Report 3
TT Crocker
DK Bhalla
1986

The pulmonary epithelium is a cellular, avascular layer of tissue that is the first point of contact between the lung and inhaled pollutants. Previous research has indicated that altered epithelial permeability may be an early marker of subsequent lung damage. Dr. Crocker and colleagues at the University of California, Irvine sought to study the study the sites of epithelial injury in rat airways following inhalation of formaldehyde, ozone, and nitrogen dioxide.

Research Report 2
James A Bond
Michele A Medinsky
James D Sun
1986

Nitro-polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, including 1-nitropyrene, are constituents of diesel exhaust. Previous fractionation research has suggested that 1-nitropyrene and various dinitropyrenes may account for 20-50% of the total mutagenicity in the diesel particle extract (DPE). Dr. Bond and colleagues at the Inhalation Toxicology Research Institute examined the biological fate of inhaled 14C-1-nitropyrene (NP) in Fischer-344 rats.

Research Report 1
Marie A Amoruso
1985

Acute hemolytic anemia is associated with a deficiency in glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), an X-linked inheritable characteristic. Hemolytic anemia is thought to be caused by a depletion of glutathione and other reducing compounds in red blood cells. Dr. Amoruso and colleagues sought to experimentally test the Calabrese hypothesis, which suggests that G6PD-deficient individuals may be at an increased risk of hemolysis during exposure to low levels of oxidants such as ozone.