Protective Role of Eosinophils and Tumor Necrosis Factor-α after Ozone Inhalation

In this study, Allison Fryer and colleagues studied how exposure to ozone affects the immune and physiological responses in guinea pigs. Guinea pigs are considered a useful animal model for studies of respiratory and physiological responses in humans because their response to airborne allergens is similar to that in humans and shares some features of allergic asthma.

The investigators focused on eosinophils, white blood cells that play an important role in inflammation, allergies, and allergic asthma, and can modify the airway response to ozone inhalation. This study tested a novel hypothesis: that allergic guinea pigs react differently to ozone than normal animals because of newly formed eosinophils that migrate from bone marrow to the lungs.