OZONE pollution doesn鈥檛 just choke our cities as smog, it might also be bad for your heart.
Paul Wentworth and colleagues at the Scripps Institute in La Jolla, California, showed in 2003 that ozone reacts with cholesterol and produces substances called atheronals. These are found in the fatty 鈥減laques鈥� that cause diseased arteries to narrow, but it was not known whether they had a role in plaque formation. Wentworth believes ozone is generated in the body when white blood cells attack the cholesterol that accumulates on artery walls.
Now he and his colleagues have found that atheronals, and hence ozone, actually contribute to artery narrowing, or atherosclerosis. 鈥淲e show that these molecules may in fact contribute to cardiovascular disease,鈥� Wentworth says.
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His team showed that the atheronals cause monocytes, a type of white blood cell, to turn into macrophages. These 鈥渃lean-up鈥� cells contribute to plaque formation by sticking to the artery walls. Atheronals also cause monocytes to stick to artery walls, increasing production of the macrophages that cause plaques, and accelerating the growth of plaques that are already forming (Biochemistry, DOI: 10.1021/bi0604330).
Whether inhaled ozone contributes to heart disease via these mechanisms is unknown, but Wentworth says it is possible that ozone from the air could form atheronals in the lungs, and these could then make their way to the arteries.
