Table 1. Experimental protocol (BALB/c mice).

Mice (6-week, 6-, 12-, 18-months were sensitized intraperitoneally (i.p.) with OVA (200μg/mouse) twice at weekly intervals and then challenged intratracheally (i.t.) on days 18, 25 and 32 with OVA (100μg/mouse). Analysis was either performed twenty-four hours (BALF) or seventy-two hours after the final challenge (AHR measurement, BALF, lung histology, serum antibodies, spleen cell culture and RNA extraction from lung tissue). Naïve age-matched mice were controls.