ABSTRACr Twenty four volunteers who had been allergic to laboratory animals for some years were examined by means of a questionnaire paying particular attention to symptoms associated with rats and by serological and skin tests with extracts of rat urine (retrospective study). Nasal and eye symptoms were reported by 21 and 16 individuals respectively: 13 had asthma. Positive skin tests and high levels of specific IgE antibody to rat urine extract were found in 17 of the more severely affected individuals and this group included 12 of those with asthma. Latent periods of work with animals before symptoms appeared varied from 0*5 to 12 years. Also 148 individuals were studied during their first year of work with animals (prospective study). Symptoms developing during the year were reported by 15%, asthma by 2%. IgE antibody levels to rat urine were raised in 40% of affected and 6% of the unaffected individuals but there was no significant correlation between symptoms and either antibody levels or positive skin tests. Allergic symptoms developing during the first year of postemployment were, on the whole, much milder than those seen in the retrospective study. A tentative conclusion is that most individuals who become allergic to laboratory animals develop the condition in a mild form during their first year of employment but it appears probable that atopic individuals, although having an equal chance of developing allergy as compared with non-atopic individuals, may eventually progress to a more severe form of the disease.Allergy to laboratory animals (ALA), after a period of relative neglect, is now receiving increased attention' 1O. While all authors agree that the overall incidence of ALA in the exposed population is about 20%, there is considerable variation in terms of the percentage of individuals with ALA (table 1).A notable advance in the study of ALA resulted from the findings of Newman-Taylor etal" and Longbottom12 that a major allergen is found in the urine of rats and mice. Among other benefits these findings have facilitated the use of relevant immunological approaches to the problems presented by ALA. Despite our increased knowledge, more information is needed before a rational approach to the control of ALA can be instituted. The present study had two main aims: (1) symptoms in a group of people with established allergy to rats and (2) to study the nature and rate of development of allergy during the period of employment as an animal worker. A subsidiary aim of the study was to offer an explanation for the apparently wide differences in the reported incidence of asthma. The present paper describes our initial findings, and is presented in two parts, a retrospective study and a prospective study.The retrospective study attempted to correlate rat associated allergic symptoms with the presence of specific IgE antibody and the response in skin tests to rat urine. The volunteers included in this study were selected solely on the basis of their previous report of allergic symptoms.8 Although some of th...
Double antibody sandwich ELISA procedures have been devised to estimate the concentrations of airborne rat urinary and epidermal antigens. Both assays were capable of detecting at least 3 ng/ml of antigen protein. Unknown concentrations were estimated in terms of the standard, laboratory-prepared material, as calculated from the linear relationship between absorbance and log concentration. The coefficient of variation of a single assay was 12%, the methods have been applied to extracts of the filter material from static and personal samplers in an animal room.
Inflammatory exudates have been produced in mice by intraperitoneal injection of thioglycollate broth 24 hr and again 3 hr before collecting of the exudate. The first injection of broth exerts a "priming" effect leading to an enhanced response to the second injection. By this procedure more than 30 x 106 leucocytes of which 78 per cent. were polymorphs were obtained from each mouse. Administration of paramethasone reduced the number of cells in the exudate when given at the same time as broth but not when given 3 hr before collection of the exudate. In contrast paramethasone was equally effective when given either 24 hr or 3 hr before harvest in suppressing the appearance of intravenously injected pontamine sky blue in the exudate. It was striking that treatment with paramethasone which had reduced the number of polymorphs in the exudate had actually increased the number in blood.
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