We examined the effect of postexposure hyperpnea on clearance of particles deposited in the lungs of adult male beagle dogs. Sedated dogs inhaled an insoluble 67Gg2O3 (T 1/2 = 78 h) aerosol (0.12 micron AMD) for one half hour on three separate occasions. Following aerosol exposures 1 and 2, dogs were assigned to either an eupneic (EUP) or hyperpneic (HYP) group and clearance was followed noninvasively for 9 days by whole body counting and gamma camera analysis. After exposure 2, EUP and HYP assignments were interchanged so that each dog was studied under both conditions. Hyperpnea was induced by housing dogs in an atmosphere of 7% CO2 in air, 6 h per day. Carbon dioxide inhalation increased VE a factor of 3.7 +/- 0.9 (SD). We found that pulmonary clearance was retarded by CO2-stimulated hyperpnea in 7 of 8 dogs. Following aerosol exposure 3, dogs were divided between EUP and HYP and subsequently were killed in pairs at 3 h, 1 day, 3 days, and 7 days. Distribution of activity in body organs was examined, and translocation to the hilar lymph nodes was followed. Both retention distribution and removal of activity by saline lavage were measured in postmortem lungs. The percentage of lavaged activity associated with pulmonary macrophages increased from 44% at 3 h after exposure to 91% at 4 and 7 days after exposure. Examination of dried lung slices by autoradiography showed clearance of particles from airways and formation of a more punctate distribution in the retained activity at increasing times after exposure. Distinctive differences between HYP and EUP dogs were not seen.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)