Effects of inhaled L-arginine administration in a murine model of acute asthma.

Effects of inhaled L-arginine administration in a murine model of acute asthma. Iran J Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2014 Oct;13(5):317-23 Authors: Arikan-Ayyildiz Z, Karaman M, Firinci F, Kiray M, Bagriyanik A, Yilmaz O, Uzuner N, Karaman O Abstract Increased arginase activity in the airways decreases L-arginine and causes deficiency of bronchodilating and anti-inflammatory nitric oxide (NO) in asthma. As, it is suggested that L-arginine may have therapeutic potential in asthma treatment, we aimed to investigate the effects of inhaled L-arginine on oxygen saturation (SaO2) and airway histology in a murine model of acute asthma. Twenty eight BALB/c mice were divided into four groups; I, II, III and IV (control). All groups except the control were sensitized and challenged with ovalbumin. After establishement of acute asthma attack by metacholine administration, the mice were treated with inhaled L-arginine (Group I), saline (Group II) and budesonide (Group III), respectively. SaO2 was measured by pulse oximeter just before and 5 min after methacholine. A third measurement of SaO2 was also obtained 15 min after drug administration in these study groups. Inflammation in the lung tissues of the sacrificed animals were scored to determine the effects of the study drugs. The number of eosinophils in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) was determined. The results indicated that inflammatory scores significantly improved in groups receiving study drugs ...
Source: Iranian Journal of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology - Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Tags: Iran J Allergy Asthma Immunol Source Type: research