Sam P. Battista

Mucus production and ciliary transport activity. In vivo studies using the chicken.

A new technique for studying in vivo mucus transport and mucus production has been developed using the chicken. This technique is based on the observation that the trachea is easily exteriorized (into the chicken’s mouth) and experiments conducted on an in situ tissue. This procedure may be repeated without any apparent harm to the chicken. Exposing animate to smoke from regular or carbon filter cigarettes once a day for 32 days does not appear to produce permanent impairment in ciliary function. Mucus output was markedly increased during the period of smoke exposure. These in vivo studies indicate that gas-phase components (particularly hydrogen cyanide [HCN] and acrolein) are of major importance in the inhibition of ciliary transport and that appropriate filters can significantly reduce this inhibitory effect, but not the increase in mucus production observed during smoking.

Restoration of tracheal mucosa and ciliary particle transport activity after mechanical denudation in the chicken

Abstract A new technique was developed to study the regeneration of respiratory epithelium in situ. The restoration of the epithelium of mechanically denuded chicken tracheas was characterized by measurements of ciliary particle transport activity and by counting ciliated cells, mucous cells and mucous glands. Results show that although more than 90% of the epithelial cells were destroyed as a result of the mechanical denudation process, most of the restoration of ciliary function and regeneration of the epithelium in the chicken occurred by 14 days. Complete restoration of the epithelium to the predenudation condition occurred before 29 days. This method, we believe, will be of value in studying the effects of potentially toxic or beneficial agents in the form of dusts, gases, aerosols and drugs on replacement of respiratory epithelium. In addition, the impairment of pulmonary clearance, together with the presence of large numbers of cells in an active phase of cellular division, may provide a milieu for the study of carcinogenesis induced or influenced by airborne chemical agents.

A new system for quantitatively exposing laboratory animals by direct inhalation: delivery of cigarette smoke.

A system for quantitatively introducing cigarette smoke into the respiratory tract of spontaneously breathing laboratory animals has been developed. At the present time, its use is restricted to animals either with tracheotomies or capable of mouth breathing. The volume, frequency, and duration of cigarette puffing is programmed and not determined by the animal’s respiratory activity. Smoke is loaded into a holding tube and inhaled during normal inhalation. To prevent anoxia, animals are allowed fresh air between puffs. The system can be automated for simultaneously exposing four to eight animals. Except for modest loss of particulate material, the composition of smoke does not appear to be altered materially.

Use of the Nonimmersed in Vitro Chicken Tracheal Preparation for the Study of Ciliary Transport Activity Cigarette Smoke and Related Components

A bioassay has been developed and used to quantitatively characterize the effects of cigarette smoke on ciliary function. Diluting smoke from 50% (40 ml) to 3% (2.5 ml) increases the number of four-second exposures required for 90% to 100% inhibition from 8 to 80 (or more) puffs. A high degree of correlation and notable similarity in slope of dose-response curves was found for regular cigarettes, cellulose acetate filter cigarettes, and cigarettes with filters of cellulose acetate with activated carbon. A 50% reduction (dose required to inhibit particle transport rate to 50% of control rate [ED50]) in transport activity was observed with 8 ml (one to ten dilution) of nonfiltered cigarette smoke after eight exposures of four seconds each, delivered at one-minute intervals. The ED50 for hydrogen cyanide under similar conditions was attained at 10μg per puff or at concentrations lower than those reported in smoke. Recovery from HCN was more rapid than after cigarette smoke. Smoke from cigarettes with filters...

Thermoregulatory Behavior of Birds in Response to Continuous Wave 2.45-GHz Microwave Radiation

Studies of thermoregulatory behavior and body temperature carried out on the house finch and blue jay indicate that there is no observable thermoregulatory stress induced by microwave radiation (MWR) of 10 mW/cm² or less for 10 min at normal ambient temperature for Suffolk County, Massachusetts. House finches exhibit only slight stress at 25 mW/cm², while blue jays exhibit increases in body temperature and in behaviors which reduce thermoregulatory stress. At 50 mW/cm², both species experience thermal stress and show significant elevation in cloacal temperature during 10 min of MWR. Both species experienced significantly greater elevation in body temperature when the longitudinal axis of the body was oriented parallel to the E vector of the MWR than when oriented perpendicular. This study suggests that the level of microwave radiation proposed for use in a satellite power system (SPS), that is, 23 mW/cm² or less, will have little effect on birds the size of blue jays or smaller. Larger birds may be at a greater risk if exposed to 23 mW/cm².

Thermoregulation of Budgerigars Exposed to Microwaves (2.45 GHz, CW) during Flight

Budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) flying at 37 km h⁻¹ in a wind tunnel were exposed to 2.45 GHz continuous wave (CW) radiation at power densities of 50 and 0 (control) mW cm⁻² for 600 s. Body temperatures were measured before and after flights, and thermoregulatory behavior was observed during and after flights. A power density of 50 mW cm⁻² induced thermoregulatory behaviors at ambient temperatures (Ta) above 26 C. Budgerigars were forced to land before the end of the 600-s exposure period when Ta was greater than 32 C. The specific absorption rate (W kg⁻¹ mW⁻¹ cm⁻²) of small bird species (<40 g) is greater than that for larger species and is more sensitive to the orientation of the long axis of the body to the electric (E) vector of the microwave field. Small bird species may be less susceptible to microwave-induced hyperthermia due to a greater ability to lose heat by convection, reradiation, and evaporation of water.

Technique for implanting lower airway catheters chronically in dogs, in order to expose and record pulmonary function.

To gain access to the lower airways, a method has been developed for surgically implanting catheters in the lower airways of the lung. In addition to its use for sampling, the catheter can be used for introducing agents into the lower airway of spontaneously breathing animals and also to measure the changes in airway dynamics before and after treatment. It is also possible to partition airway resistance of the respiratory system. With this method, isoproterenol hydrochloride was found to consistently decrease peripheral airway resistance when given alone and also after peripheral resistance was increased by prior intravenous infusion of histamine phosphate. Epinephrine, on the other hand, less effectively reduced peripheral resistance and in many cases produced an increase in peripheral airway resistance. Isoproterenol, but not epinephrine, was effective in blocking the bronchoconstricting effects of intravenously administered histamine. Preliminary results indicate that it is also possible to ventilate d...

Aversion/attraction of Blue Jays to microwave irradiation

Aversion/attraction experiments were conducted to determine whether birds can perceive the presence of 2.45 GHz continuous wave microwave irradiation by observing whether Blue Jays (Cyanocitta cristata) exhibit an attraction or an aversion to the field when exposed to 25 and 50 mW/cm2. At power densities of 25 and 50 mW/cm2 Blue Jays exhibit an aversion to microwave irradiation.

Pulmonary function in spontaneously breathing dogs with lower airway catheters.

Spontaneously breathing female beagles with implanted lower airway catheters were directly exposed to puffs of whole smoke and gas phase from filter cigarettes. Measurements of peripheral and central airway resistance, tidal volume, respiratory rate, minute volume, and lung compliance were made during and after exposure to 35-ml puffs of smoke presented at one-minute intervals from five consecutively smoked cigarettes. Peripheral resistance in four dogs during exposure to five cigarettes decreased less than 5% in response to total smoke and to gas phase. Central resistance, initially lower than peripheral resistance, increased 7% with total smoke and less than 1% with gas phase. Minute volume increased 30% with total smoke, but only about 1% with gas phase. Small, if any, change in lung compliance was noted. The addition of carbon to the filter appeared to reduce the effects of total smoke.