Allergen-induced airway reactions in the pig in vivo : Inflammatory mediators as targets for asthma therapy

TL;DRAbstract

<p>A pig model for studies of allergen-induced airway reactions has previously been developed. These pigs are actively sensitized to Ascaris suum and challenged with this antigen in the airways under anesthesia. In the present study, pharmacological interventions were used to assess the importance of four inflammatory mediators in the allergen- induced airway reaction in the pig: cysteinyl leukotrienes (cysLTs), endothelins (ETs), tryptase and bradykinin (M), with focus on airway obstruction, mediator release and bronchial blood flow.</p><p>MK-571, a CysLT1-receptor antagonist, did not affect the acute allergen-induced bronchoconstriction in sensitized pigs, indicating that cysLTs are probably not of major importance in this reaction in the pig. Nonetheless, exogenous LTD4 induced bronchoconstriction and also bronchial vasoconstriction. MK-571 pre-treatment led to an elevated bronchial vascular conductance (BVC) upon allergen challenge compared to BVC in control pigs,

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