[Pharmacologic aspects of the effect of air pollutants on the respiratory system]

The principal pharmacologically acting pollutants of the atmosphere in this country are sulfur dioxide and ozone. Sulfur dioxide produces bronchial hyperreactivity, damages the bronchial epithelium and reflexively increases the secretion of phlegm. The explanation of pharmacological mechanisms of its effect can be activation of cholinergic or neuropeptidic reflex mechanisms, release of histamine, or other, for the time being less known mechanisms. Ozone increases the reactivity of the smooth muscle to the inhaled bronchoconstrictive substances most probably by releasing the mediators of inflammation.