Allergic
asthma is a worldwide public health problem and a major socioeconomic burden disease. It is a chronic inflammatory disease marked by airway
eosinophilia and goblet cell
hyperplasia with mucus hypersecretion. Mouse models have proven as a valuable tool for studying human
asthma. In the present report we describe a comparison of mouse
asthma models. The experiments were designed as follows: Group I was injected with
ovalbumin (OVA, i.p.) on day 1 and challenged with 1% OVA (
aerosol exposure) on days 14~21. Group II was injected on day 1, 14 and
aerosol-immunized on days 14~21. Group III was injected on day 1, 14 and immunized by 1% OVA
aerosol on days 18~21. We assessed
asthma induction by determining the total number of white blood cells (WBC) and eosinophils as well as by measuring
cytokine levels in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). In addition, we evaluated the histopathological changes of the lungs and determined the concentration of
immunoglobulin E (
IgE) in serum. Total WBC, eosinophils, Th2
cytokines (IL-4, IL-13) and
IgE were significantly increased in group I relative to the other groups. Moreover, histopathological studies show that group I mice show an increase in the infiltration of inflammatory cell-in peribronchial and perivascular areas as well as an overall increase in the number of mucus-containing goblet cells relative to other groups. These data suggest that group I can be a useful model for the study of human
asthma pathobiology and the evaluation of existing and novel therapeutic agents.