September 11, 2003
BIRMINGHAM, AL — UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) has received a three-year, $5 million grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to lead a national study that will begin to evaluate the effects of poor air quality on lung growth and development, and on the development of asthma in children. “Despite much research on the health effects of ozone, fundamental questions remain unanswered, such as how ozone causes injury to the respiratory tract, if exposure exacerbates the development of asthma, or if a child’s exposure to ozone may have long-lasting effects,” said Edward M. Postlethwait, Ph.D., professor and acting chair of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at UAB.
Nationally, air quality has improved since passage of the 1970 Clean Air Act limiting the amount of allowable pollutants in the air. However, many areas of the nation — primarily large urban areas — persistently fail to meet national air quality standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). “The health effects of high ozone levels include respiratory irritation, reduced lung function, increased asthma attacks, lung inflammation, and damage to the cells lining the airways,” Postlethwait said.
The study is a collaborative effort of 24 researchers from eight institutions — UAB, the University of California at Davis, Michigan State University, Pennsylvania State University, Pacific Northwest National Laboratories, Louisiana State University, CIIT Centers for Health Research and the EPA. “The study is a novel approach to collaborative research,” Postlethwait said. “Unlike many other multi-site studies, this is a highly interactive and interdependent program where each site will contribute a unique element to a collective single objective. Researchers bring to the table diverse expertise, including chemistry, biochemistry, anatomy and morphology, cell biology, high resolution imaging and three-dimensional reconstruction, chemical engineering, mathematical modeling, and biostatistics.”
The study will yield powerful new tools for predicting health outcomes in children exposed to ozone. “Information gathered from animal models will provide new biochemical and cellular information that will be used to produce three-dimensional, computer-based images of the developing respiratory tract exposed to repeated, short-term periods of ozone,” Postlethwait said. “From this composite information, we will build mathematical models for projecting the effects of ozone on human developing lungs, including the specific sites where ozone causes damage, whether effects in the nose can be used to indicate biological responses in the lung and whether exposure predisposes individuals to develop asthma.”
The goal is to be able to predict specific health risks based on ozone exposures children experience. “Results hopefully will have direct implications for improving our ability to assess potential exposure effects. In turn, knowing risks and taking measures to prevent ozone exposure may greatly reduce childhood illnesses and their related medical expenses,” Postlethwait said.
Another novel feature of the program is a Web site that will be developed to help researchers gather and share the large amounts of data generated from the study. “It will serve not only as an interactive point for researchers directly involved in the study to bridge the geographic distances that separate us, but also as a means for other scientists to gain access to the information that will be generated by the many components of the program,” Postlethwait said.
The information derived from the study also may have broad applications for many other scientific arenas. “We believe the structure of the program will serve as a model for future collaborative research efforts of this kind,” Postlethwait said.