title: Ozone at high-pollution urban levels causes airway hyperresponsiveness to substance P but not to other agonists.
abstract: Ozone (O(3)) causes airway hyperresponsiveness, but few studies have evaluated this effect at urban concentrations. In this work dose-response curves to intravenous acetylcholine, histamine or substance P were performed in guinea pigs with or without previous exposure to O(3) (0.15, 0.3, 0.6 or 1.2 ppm for 4 h, 16-18 h before the studies). We found airway hyperresponsiveness to histamine, but not to acetylcholine, only after 1.2 ppm O(3). By contrast, airway hyperresponsiveness to substance P was developed at O(3) levels encountered in highly-polluted cities (0.3 ppm). These results suggest that excitatory non-adrenergic non-cholinergic responses could be affected by air pollution, and that substance P is a useful pharmacological tool for evaluating the airway hyperresponsiveness induced by low O(3) concentrations.
authors.affiliation: Depto. de Investigación en Asma, Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias, México DF, México.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Segura
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Montaño
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bazán-Perkins
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gustin
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Vargas