[Influence of bacterial infection during ovalbumin induced experimental asthma in guinea pigs]

The pathomechanism of bronchial asthma is not fully explained. The immunologic reactions in the bronchial epithelium may be better understood by an experimental approach in laboratory animals. Ovalbumin induced asthma in guinea pigs is widely accepted as an experimental model of bronchial asthma and was applied in this study. The bronchoconstriction, bronchial hypersensitivity and humoral immune response were measured after bronchial infection (intranasal Pseudomonas aeruginosa application). The increase of the bronchospastic reaction and bronchial hypersensitivity was observed after intranasal Pseudomonas aeruginosa application. Bacterial infection lead to the increase of the circulating immune complexes level and to the decrease of the haemolytic activity of the complement in serum.