title: Airway wall remodeling in young and adult rats with experimentally provoked bronchial asthma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Airway wall remodeling is a typical finding in patients suffering from bronchial asthma. While morphological changes have been thoroughly described in adults, less is known about such changes in children because of the limited accessibility of relevant material. To overcome this constraint, animal asthma models may be used instead of human specimens. This study examined rats with artificially stimulated chronic asthma-like symptoms.
  
  
  METHODS
  Brown Norway rats of two age categories (young and adult) were sensitized by ovalbumin (OA), and their intrapulmonary airways (IA) were studied using morphometric and histochemical methods.
  
  
  RESULTS
  OA administration induced a significant increase in lung resistance in young animals but not in adults. The total IA wall area was significantly increased in both young and adult OA rats. In young animals, thickening of the adventitia played a more crucial role in this increase than it did in adults, in which the mucosa and the submucosa participated to a higher degree. The IA walls of young OA rats had significantly higher levels of infiltrating eosinophils than those of adult OA animals. The multiplication of goblet cells was more pronounced in adult rats, which was associated with a tendency to produce a higher proportion of acidic glycoconjugates.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  OA stimulation affected the IA of young rats differently than those of adult animals. Changes in the outer IA layer of young rats can be triggered by activated eosinophils; however, stimulated airway epithelium can be a source of factors that influence the inner IA layers in adult rats.
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, 2nd Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jiří
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Uhlík
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Šimůnková
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Žaloudíková
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Partlová
authors.forename: Jiří
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jarkovský
authors.forename: Luděk
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vajner
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D056151:Airway Remodeling / Q000276:immunology; D000485:Allergens; D000818:Animals; D001249:Asthma / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004804:Eosinophils / Q000473:pathology; D020397:Goblet Cells / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D010047:Ovalbumin; D051381:Rats; D011914:Rats, Inbred BN
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens; D010047:Ovalbumin