Fig. 1.

Construction of the mouse model for allergic asthma. (A) Schematic representation of ovalbumin (OVA) sensitization and challenge protocol. (B) Airway responsiveness to methacholine in OVA-sensitized mice at 24 hr after the last challenge with saline (diamonds) or OVA (black rectangles). The results are expressed as the arithmetic means±SEM (n=6 per group). Significant differences from saline-challenged animals: ^*p<0.05; ^†p<0.01. (C) Numbers of mononuclear cells recovered in bronchial alveolar (BAL) fluid after saline or OVA challenge. Differential cell counts were performed on a minimum of 500 cells per sample to identify eosinophils (black), neutrophils (open), macrophages (hatched), and lymphocytes (gray). Challenge with OVA significantly increased the total cell numbers. Eosinophils and macrophages recovered in BAL fluid were significantly increased, whereas the neutrophil and lymphocyte counts were unchanged in OVA-challenged mice.