The means of deposit include diffusion , impaction , sediment and interception . Particles and fibers can be blown out, moved to the mouth and be swallowed. Those deposit in larynx may be cleared by cilia in the mucous membrane. Some may move within the lung to the pheura on the peripheral surfaces. As a result of molecular, biochemical, structural and functional alternations in our body, health responses are very complex.
Some air pollutants enter the respiratory tract but have effects elsewhere.
An examples will be a reduction in cardiac or nervous tissue function due to the binding of carbon monoxide to hemoglobin in blood. Air pollutants can also cause inflammation, i.e. kill body cells or their function temporarily or permanently. If inflammation continued in the alveolar portions of the lung, not enough oxygen is transported into the bloodstream and emphysema will be resulted. Continued cell injury can alter cell type. For example, ciliated cells change to squamous epithelium will cause an uncontrollable growth of cells and destruction of adjacent normal tissue by compression and invasion and finally causes cancer.