1988 Volume 37 Issue 3 Pages 269-274
We investigated the sensitivity of the airway of various experimental animals to acetylcholine (ACh) and histamine (Hist) . The experimental animals were exposed to 0.1% ACh or 0.05% Hist. Guinea pigs and rabbits exhibited an asthmatic reaction to both chemicals, but rabbits seemed to have a milder reaction than guinea pigs to both chemicals. Mice, rats and hamsters showed no reaction. We then perfomed a morphological study of the airways of 5 species in order to clarify the reason for their different reactivities to ACh and Hist. In the morphological study, abundant smooth muscle could be seen in the terminal bronchioles and respiratory bronchioles of guinea pigs and rabbits. In contrast, animals of other species had little smooth muscle in either site. Mice had no respiratory bronchioles. Consequently, we concluded that there is a high correlation between sensitivity to ACh and Hist and the extent of smooth muscle distribution around the airway.
Proceedings of The Japanese Society of Animal Models for Human Diseases
Proceedings of The Japanese Association of Animal Models for Human Diseases
