Development of novel anti-inflammatory drugs is an important issue. One mechanism by which inflammation can be attenuated is by elimination of ROS and free radicals [17,18]. Fullerenes, a recently discovered allotrope of carbon [19], have attracted much attention in pharmacology as reviewed [20]. Fullerenes, also termed buckminsterfullerenes or simply ‘bucky balls’ [21], are molecules consisting of 60 or more carbon atoms arranged in a soccer ball-like structure. The pristine C60 fullerene has 30 conjugated C–C double bonds and may therefore be chemically derivatized which may modify the physicochemical and pharmacological properties of the molecule. The water-soluble hydroxylated bucky balls is well known to possess ROS and radical scavenging effects [20], that is, they may be able to neutralize ROS and thereby probably also attenuate inflammation induced by ROS [22,23]. Using mice as the model animal, this study examines whether pre-treatment with polyhydroxy C60 (fullerenol) can attenuate neutrophilic lung inflammation induced by quartz.