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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 292/1/L85    most recent 00234.2006v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (1) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Sorkness, R. L. Articles by Rosenthal, L. A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Sorkness, R. L. Articles by Rosenthal, L. A.

Altered allergen-induced eosinophil trafficking and physiological dysfunction in airways with preexisting virus-induced injury

¹School of Pharmacy, ²Department of Medicine, ³Department of Pediatrics, and ⁴Morris Institute for Respiratory Research, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin

Submitted 22 June 2006 ; accepted in final form 8 August 2006

Although both asthmatics and allergic rhinitics develop an acute inflammatory response to lower airway allergen challenge, only asthmatics experience airway obstruction resulting from chronic environmental allergen exposure. Hypothesizing that asthmatic airways have an altered response to chronic allergic inflammation, we compared the effects of repeated low-level exposures to inhaled Alternaria extract in sensitized rats with preexisting chronic postbronchiolitis airway dysfunction versus sensitized controls with normal airways. Measurements of air space (bronchoalveolar lavage) inflammatory cells, airway goblet cells, airway wall collagen, airway wall eosinophils, airway alveolar attachments, and pulmonary physiology were conducted after six weekly exposures to aerosolized saline or Alternaria extract. Postbronchiolitis rats, but not those starting with normal airways, had persistent increases in airway wall eosinophils, goblet cell hyperplasia in small airways, and loss of lung elastic recoil after repeated exposure to aerosolized Alternaria extract. Despite having elevated airway wall eosinophils, the postbronchiolitis rats had no eosinophils in bronchoalveolar lavage at 5 days after the last allergen exposure, suggesting altered egression of tissue eosinophils into the air space. In conclusion, rats with preexisting airway pathology had altered eosinophil trafficking and allergen-induced changes in airway epithelium and lung mechanics that were absent in sensitized control rats that had normal airways before the allergen exposures.

postbronchiolitis sequelae; lung elastic recoil; rats; Alternaria