Abstract
In this study the effect of betamethasone was investigated in guinea pigs that demonstrate airway inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness after a viral respiratory tract infection with parainfluenza-3 (PI3) virus. Guinea pigs were pretreated with saline or betamethasone 8 mg/kg intraperitoneally twice a day for five consecutive days, starting on day 0 and ending on day 4. On day 1, the guinea pigs were inoculated with either control solution (medium) or PI3 virus. On day 5, airway responsiveness was measured. Furthermore, a blood sample was taken, lungs were lavaged, blood leucocytes were counted, and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cells were counted and differentiated. Accordingly, the activity of the bronchoalveolar cells was measured by lucigenin-amplified chemiluminescence. In virus-infected guinea pigs the total bronchoalveolar cell number was increased by 44% compared with medium-treated guinea pigs. This was mainly due to the increase in macrophages (70%, P200%) and methacholine (>100%) after the virus infection. In conclusion, betamethasone treatment prevents virus-induced airway inflammation but not airway hyperresponsiveness in guinea pigs.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages | 82-85 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Publication status | Published - 28 Mar 1999 |
Keywords
- Airway inflammation
- Airway responsiveness
- Betamethasone
- Chemiluminescence
- Guinea pigs
- Parainfluenza 3 virus
- Steroids
- Viral infection
- betamethasone
- glucocorticoid
- animal experiment
- animal model
- blood sampling
- bronchus hyperreactivity
- cell count
- chemoluminescence
- conference paper
- controlled study
- drug effect
- guinea pig
- inflammation
- intraperitoneal drug administration
- leukocyte count
- male
- nonhuman
- Human parainfluenza virus 3
- priority journal
- steroid therapy
- virus infection