Biological Effects of Urban Air Pollution: III. Lung Tumors in Mice

Abstract

This article explores the biological effects of urban air pollution by experimentally testing the effects of filtered and ambient air on lung tumorigenesis in mice. Three strains of mice were studied — A-strain, A/J-strain and C-57 black mice — and were housed at four exposure sites with different levels of air pollutants. The results indicate a slight but statistically nonsignificant increase in overall adenoma incidence in the ambient groups. However, upon further analysis, a trend towards an increased incidence of lung adenomas in aging mice of the ambient air groups, as compared with the incidence in filtered air mice, emerged. Histologically, there were no apparent differences in the spectrum of diseases observed in the organs examined from the attritionally dead mice depending upon exposure to ambient or control atmospheres. – AI-generated abstract.