Role of the parasympathetic nervous system in acute lung response to ozone

pathetic nervous system in acute lung response to ozone. J. Appl. Physiol. 59(6): 1879-l&35,1985.-We conducted an ozone (03) exposure study using atropine, a muscarinic receptor blocker, to determine the role of the parasympathetic nervous system in the acute response to OS. Eight normal subjects with prede-termined O3 responsiveness were randomly assigned an order for four experimental exposures. For each exposure a subject inhaled either buffered saline or atropine aerosol followed by exposure either to clean air or 0.4 ppm 03. Measurements of lung mechanics, ventilatory response to exercise, and symptoms were obtained before and after exposure. O3 exposure alone resulted in significant changes in specific airway resistance, forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory flow rates, tidal volume (VT), and respiratory rate (f). Atropine pretreatment prevented the significant increase in airway resistance with O