Ozone, with its high reactivity, is entirely consumed as it passes through the first layer of
tissue it contacts at the lung/air interface. This layer includes the epithelial cell lining fluid
(ELF) and, where the ELF is thin or absent, the membranes of the epithelial cells that line the
airways. Thus the biochemical changes that follow the inhalation of ozone must be relayed
into deeper tissue strata by a cascade of ozonation products. Lipid ozonation products (LOP)
are suggested to be the most likely relay molecules of ozone's signal. This is because …