Response of t‐cell‐deficient mice to ozone exposure

The number, appearance, and functional reactivity of T‐lymphocytes of mediastinal lymph nodes are altered during experimental ozone inhalation. The purpose of the present work is to determine how the lymph nodes and lungs of a mutant strain of animal, which lacks this type of cell, differ in their response to ozone exposure when compared with animals that possess a normal complement of lymphocytes. We exposed athymic nude fnu/nuj mice or heterozygous (nu/ +) euthymic mice to 0.7ppm ozone for 20 h/d for 7 or 14 d while maintaining control groups in clean air. At 7 d the lymph‐node hyperplastic response normally seen in euthymic, ozone‐exposed animals was greatly reduced in exposed athymic animals. By both 7 and 14 d, greater damage had occurred in the lungs of ozone‐exposed, athymic animals than in similarly exposed euthymic animals. Lung wet weight divided by body weight, which was used as a general indicator of lung damage, increased by substantially more in athymic animals than in conventional animals. ...