Nasal mucosal hypersensitivity in guinea pigs intermittently exposed to cold

To develop an animal model for experimental nasal hypersensitivity and hyperreactivity, guinea pigs were subjected to intermittent exposure to cold temperature (intermittent cold stress, SART stress) for 5 consecutive days. In SART-stressed guinea pigs, nasal mucosal hypersensitivity to histamine evoking sneeze response and nasal hypersecretion in response to methacholine were observed. The hypersensitivity remained for further 7 days after being released from SART stress. On the other hand, such nasal mucosal hypersensitivity was not caused by a continuous cold stress alone, suggesting that intermittent exposure to cold may be of importance for the appearance of nasal mucosal hypersensitivity. In passively sensitized SART-stressed guinea pigs, the quantity of nasal secretion induced by an allergen was significantly increased compared with that of a group of normal animals. The expression of muscarinic acetylcholine receptor (m-ACh.R) became higher in SART-stressed guinea pigs. Thus, hypersensitivity and hyperreactivity in this system were found to be associated with an increase in density of m-ACh.R. SART-stressed guinea pigs will serve as an animal model for hypersensitivity in nasal mucosa, which would be useful for the study of nasal allergy.