It is well known that many eosinophils are infiltrated in
the bronchial and nasal mucosa of the allergic patients, and that the eosinophil granule proteins can injure the bronchial epithelium. But it is uncertain whether
the epithelial injury can occur in the nasal mucosa of the patients with
allergic rhinitis and whether it is related with the eosinophil infiltration or not. The present study was made with the aim of finding out the relation between the eosinophil
infiltration and epithelial injury (if present) in the nasal mucosa of guinea pigs with
experimentally induced nasal allergy. We used 19 guinea pigs as allergic group,
which were sensitized with ovalbumin under a series of schedule, and 16 guinea pigs
as control group. Every guinea pig in allergic group had the titer of the specific IgE not less than 1 : 8, confirmed by passive cutaneous anaphylaxis reaction. The
symptom score, peripheral blood and histopathology of the nasal mucosa from the inferior conchae were
examined in both groups. And then, partial correlation and multiple regression analysis were done. The results were as follows ; 1) The
eosinophils, goblet cells, mast cells and epithelial loss of the nasal mucosa were found significantly more in allergy group than in control group. 2) The more infiltrated the eosinophils were, the more the epithelial loss of the
nasal mucosa was. But the epithelial loss was not related with the specific IgE titer, the number of goblet
or mast cells. In conclusion, it was suggested that the epithelial injury occurred in the nasal mucosa of guinea pigs with
nasal allergy and it was related with the eosinophil infiltration.
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