Effect of ovalbumin challenge on endothelial reactivity of pulmonary arteries from sensitized guinea-pigs

Abstract

It has been generally demonstrated that sensitization process and/or specific antigen challenge causes an increase in the responsiveness of airway smooth muscle preparations to contractile agonists, However, there is no report elucidating such modifications in vascular preparations, In this study, we examined the influence of ovalbumin sensitization and challenge on the reactivity of guinea-pig pulmonary arteries to various vasoactive agents, Guinea-pigs were actively sensitized to ovalbumin (10 mg/kg) by ip injections on days 1, 3 and 5, Beginning 21 days after the last injection, animals were challenged with ovalbumin either in vitro or in vivo, The effects of sensitization process and challenge were studied on endothelium-dependent and -independent responses of guineapig pulmonary arteries,