Figure 1.

Effect of mometasone, given an hour before the last allergen challenge, on ovalbumin (OA)-induced, increase in Penh (a), increased airway sensitivity to aerosolized methacholine (b) and influx of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) eosinophils (c), neutrophils (d), lymphocytes (e) and macrophages (f). Actively sensitized animals were challenged with aerosolized OA or its vehicle PBS on days 21–23 after the first sensitization. On day 26, mice were intranasally treated with mometasone and 1 h later either challenged with an aerosolized solution of OA (OA/OA) or phosphate-buffered saline (PBS; OA/PBS). As a control, a group of sensitized animals was challenged with PBS on days 21–23 and 26 (PBS/PBS) and treated with vehicle. Results are expressed as means±s.e.mean from one experiment with 7–8 animals per group. Statistical comparisons were performed using a Mann–Whitney test with Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons, ^*P<0.05 when compared with the OA/OA group.