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Updated: Jun 13, 2026
Generation of a Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Model in Mice by Repeated Ozone Exposure
Published on: August 25, 2017
Glutathione deficient C57BL/6J mice are not sensitized to ozone-induced lung injury
Elisabet Johansson1, Scott C Wesselkamper, Howard G Shertzer
1Department of Environmental Health and Center for Environmental Genetics, University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45267-0056, USA. johanse@email.uc.edu
Abstract:
In this study we examined the role of the antioxidant glutathione (GSH) in pulmonary susceptibility to ozone toxicity, utilizing GSH deficient C57BL/6J mice that lack the expression of glutamate-cysteine ligase modifier subunit (GCLM). Gclm(-/-) knockout mice had 70% GSH depletion in the lung. Gclm(+/+) wild-type and Gclm(-/-) mice were exposed to either 0.3 ppm ozone or filtered air for 48h. Ozone-induced lung hyperpermeability, as measured by total protein concentration in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, was surprisingly lower in Gclm(-/-) mice than in wild-type mice. Lung hyperpermeability did not correlate with the degree of neutrophilia or with inflammatory gene expression. Pulmonary antioxidant response to ozone, assessed by increased mRNA levels of metallothionein 1 and 2, alpha-tocopherol transporter protein, and solute carrier family 23 member 2 (sodium-dependent vitamin C transporter) was greater in Gclm(-/-) mice than in Gclm(+/+) mice. These results suggest that compensatory augmentation of antioxidant defenses in Gclm(-/-) mice may confer increased resistance to ozone-induced lung injury.
