Project Summary (1995-2000)

The research in this project extends previous studies to develop biomarkers for environmentally relevant agents that produce toxicity to bronchiolar Clara cells and to nasal olfactory epithelium. These include naphthalene, nitronaphthalene and chlorinated ethylenes. All of these compounds produce site and species selective toxicity. Differences in cell susceptibility provide a useful experimental tool for identifying factors critical to cellular injury and are being used to guide the development of markers of toxicity to respiratory epithelium. Additional effort is also necessary to develop systems capable of evaluating hazardous waste sites for the presence of potential lung toxicants. The project is intended to meet the overall goals of developing reliable indicators for detecting exposures to metabolically activated lung toxicants and developing methodology for rapid assessment of environmental samples for the presence of pulmonary toxins.