Extrathoracic and intrathoracic removal of O3 in tidal-breathing humans.

We measured the efficiency of O3 removal from inspired air by the extrathoracic and intrathoracic airways in 18 healthy, nonsmoking, young male volunteers. Removal efficiencies were measured as a function of O3 concentration (0.1, 0.2, and 0.4 ppm), mode of breathing (nose only, mouth only, and oronasal), and respiration frequency (12 and 24 breaths/min). Subjects were placed in a controlled environmental chamber into which O3 was introduced. A small polyethylene tube was then inserted into the nose of each subject, with the tip positioned in the posterior pharynx. Samples of air were collected from the posterior pharynx through the tube and into a rapidly responding O3 analyzer yielding inspiratory and expiratory O3 concentrations in the posterior pharynx. The O3 removal efficiency of the extrathoracic airways was computed with the use of the inspiratory concentration and the chamber concentration, and intrathoracic removal efficiency was computed with the use of the inspiratory and expiratory concentrations. The mean extrathoracic removal efficiency for all measurements was 39.6 +/- 0.7% (SE), and the mean intrathoracic removal efficiency was 91.0 +/- 0.5%. Significantly less O3 was removed both extrathoracically and intrathoracically when subjects breathed at 24 breaths/min compared with 12 breaths/min (P less than 0.001). O3 concentration had no effect on extrathoracic removal efficiency, but there was a significantly greater intrathoracic removal efficiency at 0.4 ppm than at 0.1 ppm (P less than 0.05). Mode of breathing significantly affected extrathoracic removal efficiency, with less O3 removed during nasal breathing than during either mouth breathing or oronasal breathing (P less than 0.01).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)