Effect of Smoke from Burning Vegetative Residues on Airway Inflammation and Pulmonary Function in Healthy, Asthmatic, and Allergic Individuals.

摘要

It is common practice worldwide to use open field burning to clear agricultural fields of rice straw and other vegetative residues, and for disease and pest control. This burning produces smoke, which contains respirable particulate and gaseous components. Currently, there is no specific information available on the direct effect of rice straw smoke (RSS) exposure on respiratory health effects, even though epidemiological data indicate that this issue requires investigation. The objective of this project was to investigate the effects of controlled exposure to RSS on human respiratory health. Specific Aim One: To determine the effect of a single exposure to RSS at two different concentrations on airway inflammation and spirometric pulmonary function. Specific Aim Two: To determine the effect of the RSS exposure format (single- vs. serial-day) on airway inflammation and spirometric pulmonary function. Specific Aim Three: To determine the effect of asthma and allergic rhinitis status on the airway inflammatory and spirometric pulmonary function responses to RSS exposure. The hypotheses of this project were: (1) that airway inflammation would be increased, and spirometric pulmonary function would be decreased, as a function of increased RSS concentration and dose; (2) that the RSS-induced changes in airway inflammation and spirometric pulmonary function would be increased in asthmatic and allergic individuals as compared to healthy individuals. This project consisted of three separate controlled human exposure experiments.