Effect of maternal exposure to ozone on reproductive outcome and immune, inflammatory, and allergic responses in the offspring

There is growing concern that exposure to air pollutants during pregnancy affects health outcomes in the offspring due to alterations in the development of immune and other homeostatic processes. To assess the risks of maternal inhalation exposure to ozone (O-3), timed pregnant BALB/c mice were exposed to different concentrations of O-3 (0, 0.4, 0.8, and 1.2 ppm) for 4 h/day for 10 days during gestation (GD9--GD18), and pulmonary inflammation and immune responses were assessed in the offspring at 6 weeks-of-age. Maternal O-3 exposure reduced the number of productive dams by 25% at the highest O-3 concentration (1.2 ppm) and decreased the rate of weight gain in the offspring. Delayed-type hypersensitivity responses to bovine serum albumin were suppressed in the female offspring by maternal exposure to the two highest concentrations of O-3, whereas humoral immune responses to sheep red blood cells were not altered in either sex. Maternal exposure to 1.2 ppm O-3 increased lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of the offspring but did not affect the number of inflammatory cells or levels of total protein, IFN-gamma gamma, IL-17, and IL-4 cytokines in BALF, or CD4