Establishment and characterization of an experimental mouse model of allergic rhinitis

Abstract

Allergic rhinitis (AR) is a common worldwide disease. Animal studies on AR were adopted in various investigations. However, animal studies simply aimed at establishing an animal model for AR have been seldom seen. The purpose of this study was to introduce an easy-to-establish experimental mouse model of AR. To develop a mouse model of AR, 38 Balb/c mice were randomly assigned to two groups. Mice in the study group were sensitized by intraperitoneal (IP) injection of ovalbumin (OVA) on day 1 and 6, followed by continuous inhalation (IH) of OVA solution for 1 week (day 8-14) using a newly designed inhalation box. The control group mice received sensitization of IP normal saline and IH sterilized distilled water instead of OVA. Before and after sensitization, the frequencies of nasal symptoms (sneezing, nasal rubbing) were recorded and the serum levels of total immunoglobulin E (IgE) were evaluated using ELISA. Finally, the murine nasal mucosal tissues were stained by Giemsa solution to estimate the degree of mast cell infiltration. After sensitization by IP and IH OVA, the study group showed significant phenotypic changes including increased sneezing and rubbing. Pathological and cytological findings also confirmed significant elevated serum total IgE titer and local mast cell infiltration in the study group statistically. We successfully developed a workable experimental animal model for AR that was more easily sensitized using our new-designed inhalation box, with less stress and more precisely to be observed.

Continuous Inhalation Exposure to Fungal Allergen Particulates Induces Lung Inflammation While Reducing Innate Immune Molecule Expression in the Brainstem

“…Therefore, we generated and characterized a novel murine exposure chamber equipped to disperse a natural fungal allergen continuously and simultaneously to monitor sustained aerosolized dispersion of the natural allergen. Specifically, our chamber is much larger (540 L) than other reported chamber systems with (0.4 L or 16 L volumes) and thus able to house up to 18 mice at a single time without accumulation of high ammonia levels ( Barnewall et al., 2015 ; Ko et al., 2015 ). Our chamber system also uses multiple instruments to characterize particle sizes ranging from 2 nm to 40 µm, instead of using only one instrument to detect particles in the range of 500 nm to 20 µm ( Barnewall et al., 2015 ).…”

Anti-Inflammatory Effects of a Cordyceps sinensis Mycelium Culture Extract (Cs-4) on Rodent Models of Allergic Rhinitis and Asthma

“…Seven days after the last sensitization (i.e., on day 21), mice were challenged intranasally with 10 µL of 25-mg/mL OVA in PBS-A through each nostril for 10 consecutive days (days 21–30). Non-OVA mice were treated with PBS-A only [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ]. From day 21 to day 30, mice were intragastrically administered distilled water, Cs-4, or DEX 30 min before OVA challenge.…”

Establishment and characterization of a multi-purpose large animal exposure chamber for investigating health effects

“…1) with its large dimension of 540 l, which is much larger than other chambers (Table I). [13][14][15][16] Compared to other chronic exposure chambers featuring nose-only exposures that limit the animal activities and only allow short term exposure for each test, [17][18][19] our chamber frees the mice in a natural way of inhalation and delivers 7 consecutive days of exposure until the need of changing beddings or adding food supplies. Using our chamber system, we are capable of uniformly dispersing particles with sizes ranging from coarse mode particles (e.g., dust) to fine particulate matters (nano-sized particles) at controlled size distributions and concentrations, while maintaining stability.…”

“…Using our chamber system, we are capable of uniformly dispersing particles with sizes ranging from coarse mode particles (e.g., dust) to fine particulate matters (nano-sized particles) at controlled size distributions and concentrations, while maintaining stability. 19 Nose only 1 Ko et al 13 1 0.2 Kang et al 15 6.3 6 Hougaard et al 16 18 1 Peng et al 35 540 24…”