1989 Volume 92 Issue 9 Pages 1337-1344
The purpose of this study is to clarify the role of peptide leukotrienes(LTs) on the onset of characteristic hyperreactive nasal symptoms of nasal allergy by observing the time course of the correlation among degrees of nasal symtoms, and by observing the amount of chemical mediators and the number of inflammatory cells in the nasal lavage fluid after nasal antigen challenge in subjects with Japanese cedar pollinosis during off season.
Sneezing was terminated within 10 minutes and nasal discharge within 2 hours. However, time course change of the percent increase of nasal airway resistance showed dual response consisting of immediate and late phase responses. The peak of the former was seen at 30 minutes and the latter was at 7 hours after provocation.
The significant increase of eosinophils in the nasal lavage fluid was observed during both the immediate and the late phase responses, but during the late phase response, the increase was more prominent. Basophilic cells definitely increased during the late phase response.
The amount of LTs in the nasal lavage fluid increased significantly during both the immediate and the late phase responses. In contrast, the level of histamine increased significantly only during the immediate phase response.Considering that LTs, especially LTD, , has potent and persistent effect on causing swelling of nasal mucosa, LTs may play important role in causing nasal obstruction during both the immediate and the late phase responses after antigen challenge. On the other hand, the role of histamine may be confined to cause the hyperreactive nasal symptoms during the immediate phase response. Our results also indicate that the source of LTs in the nasal lavage fluid during the immediate phase response is mast cells in nasal mucosa, and during the late phase response, eosinophils and basophils are important as the source of LTs in addition to mast cells.
