• Mechanisms of acute lung injury and the role of oxidants and antioxidants in ischemia/reperfusion injury.
• Development of low molecular weight catalytic antioxidants as molecular probes and/or pharmaceutical agents for the study of and treatment of tissue injury caused by oxidative stress.
• Inhalation toxicology with a particular interest in ozone, NO₂, asbestos and particulate induced lung injury caused by environmental exposures.

• Morphometry and immunochemistry.
• Electron microscopy and morphometric techniqes are used to qualify changes in lung structure caused by environmental pollutants.
• Immunochemical localization of proteins on cryoultrathin or resinembedded EM sections is used to evaluate the role of various antioxidants in modulating tissue responses to injury.

• Vlahovic G, Russell ML, Mercer RR, and Crapo JD. Cellular and connective tissue changes in alveolar septal walls in emphysema. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 160:2086-2092, 1999.

• Levin ED, Brucato FH and Crapo JD. Molecular overexpression of extracellular superoxide dismutase increases the dependency of learning and memory performance on motivational state. Behavior Genetics 30:95-100, 2000.

• Sheng H, Kudo M, Macksensen GB, Pearlstein RD, Crapo JD and Warner DS. Mice overexpressing extracellular superoxide dismutase have increased resistance to global cerebral ischemia. Exp Neurol 163:392-398, 2000.

Oxidative stress is a common factor in many forms of tissue injury including that occurring with environmental air pollutants, acute lung injury caused by septicemia or exposure to hyperoxia and ischemia/reperfusion illnesses such as myocardial infarction and stroke. A clear understanding of the pathogenesis of these illnesses provides a basis for the development of new pharmaceutical agents that can reduce this type of tissue injury.

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