Abstract
The purpose of this study was to evaluate nasal hypersensitivity and reactivity in aged healthy subjects and in patients with allergic rhinitis.
Thresholds of hypersensitivity to histamine and reactivity to methacholine and histamine were measured by a nasal provocation technique and biochemical analysis of nasal secretions following methacholine and histamine challenges.
Hypersensitivity in the allergic group was significantly higher than in the healthy group regardless of age. Reactivity in the older group was significantly lower than in the younger group of healthy subjects, but not in allergic patients.
These results suggest that congenital hypersensitivity in allergic patients may cause continuous stimulation of the target organs by histamine or other mediators and produce secondary morphological changes in the nasal mucosa such as increased number of goblet cells and nasal glands.
