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Epidemiology Branch Stephanie London, M.D., Dr.P.H., is collaborating with investigators at the Center for Environmental Medicine and Lung Biology (CEMALB) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on a study of whether obesity affects respiratory response to ozone. This work was inspired by a series of papers in a variety of genetic mouse models of obesity indicating that obese mice have enhanced respiratory responses to ozone. Obese mice have a greater increase in airway reactivity, airway inflammation and changes in lung mechanics in response to acute ozone exposure. These differences are not mediated by a higher ozone dose in the lungs of obese mice. The OBOZ study will enroll young women (aged 18–35 years) in two groups: 20 lean women (BMI < 25 and waist circumference, WC < 30 cm) and 20 centrally obese women (BMI 30-40, WC > 35). Women will be exposed to clean air on one day and ozone on another. The ozone exposure is 0.2 ppm for two hours with intermittent light exercise. Endpoints include airway hyperresponsiveness (methacholine challenge), change in pulmonary function, airway inflammation (via cell counts and cytokines levels in induced sputum) and lung injury (serum CC16). The study began enrolling subjects in March 2007 and will run for two years to meet the enrollment targets. |
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