Abstract There is very limited knowledge about the effects of alcohol on airway hyperresponsiveness and inflammation in asthma. Historical accounts of alcohol administration to patients with breathing problems suggest that alcohol may have bronchodilating properties. We hypothesized that alcohol exposure will alter airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) and pulmonary inflammation in a mouse model of allergic asthma. To test this hypothesis, BALB/c mice were fed either 18% alcohol or water and then sensitized and challenged with ovalbumin (OVA). AHR was assessed by means of ventilation or barometric plethysmography and reported as either total lung resistance or enhanced pause, respectively. Airway inflammation was assessed by total and differential cell counts in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), cytokine levels in BALF, lung histology, and serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels. Alcohol feeding significantly blocked methacholine-induced increases in AHR compared with water-fed controls. Alcohol feeding significantly reduced total cell numbers (64%) as well as the number of eosinophils (84%) recruited to the lungs of these mice. Modest changes in lung pathology were also observed. Alcohol exposure led to a reduction of IgE in the serum of the EtOH OVA mice. These data demonstrate that alcohol exposure blunts AHR and dampens allergic airway inflammation indices in allergic mice and suggest that there may be an important role for alcohol in the modulation of asthma. These data provide an in vivo basis for previous clinical observations in humans substantiating the bronchodilator properties of alcohol and for the first time demonstrates an alcohol-induced reduction of allergic inflammatory cells in a mouse model of allergic asthma. asthma enhanced pause ovalbumin BALB/c mice Copyright © 2012 the American Physiological Society « Previous | Next Article » Table of Contents This Article Published online before print November 2011 , doi: 10.​1152/​ajplung.​00077.​2011 AJP - Lung Physiol February 2012 vol. 302 no. 3 L308-L315 » Abstract Free Full Text Free to you Full Text (PDF) Free to you All Versions of this Article: ajplung.00077.2011v1 302/3/L308 most recent Classifications Article Services Email this article to a friend Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Download to citation manager Citing Articles Load citing article information Citing articles via Web of Science Google Scholar Articles by Oldenburg, P. J. Articles by Sisson, J. H. PubMed PubMed citation Articles by Oldenburg, P. J. Articles by Sisson, J. H. Related Content Load related web page information Current Issue February 2012, 302 (3) Alert me to new issues of AJP - Lung Physiol About the Journal Information for Authors Submit a Manuscript Ethical Policies AuthorChoice PubMed Central Policy Reprints and Permissions Advertising Press Copyright © 2012 the American Physiological Society Print ISSN: 1040-0605 Online ISSN: 1522-1504 var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-2924550-1"); pageTracker._trackPageview();

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