chondroitin-sulfates and Hypersensitivity

Chondroitin sulfate (CS) was administered orally to BALB/c mice immunized intraperitoneally with ovalbumin (OVA) and/or dinitrophenylated OVA. The titers of antigen-specific IgE and IgG1 in mouse sera were determined. The antigen-specific IgE production by mice fed ad libitum with CS was significantly inhibited. We also examined the effect of feeding CS on immediate-type hypersensitivity. One hour after antigen stimulation, the ears of mice fed with CS swelled less than those of the control mice. Furthermore, the rise in serum histamine in the mice fed with CS under active systemic anaphylaxis was significantly lower than that in the controls. We next examined the pattern of cytokine production by splenocytes from mice followed by re-stimulation with OVA in vitro. The splenocytes from the mice fed with CS produced less interleukin (IL)-5, IL-10, and IL-13 than those from the control group. In contrast, the production of interferon-gamma and IL-2 by the splenocytes of mice fed with CS was not significantly different from those in the control mice. In addition, the production of transforming growth factor-beta from the splenocytes of mice fed with CS was significantly higher than that of the control mice. Furthermore, we showed that the percentages of CD4(+) cells, CD8(+) cells, and CD4(+)CD25(+) cells in the splenocytes of mice fed with CS are significantly higher than those of the control. These findings suggest that oral intake of CS inhibits the specific IgE production and antigen-induced anaphylactic response by up-regulating regulatory T-cell differentiation, followed by down-regulating the Th2 response.

Topics: Administration, Oral; Animals; Chondroitin Sulfates; Ear; Edema; Hypersensitivity; Immunoglobulin E; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Ovalbumin; Th2 Cells

The specificity and kinetics of hyaluronic acid (HA) accumulation in relation to other glycosaminoglycans (GASs) were determined in rabbit lungs during an allergic granulomatous response to BCG, an allergic nongranulomatous response to tuberculoprotein, and during a foreign-body granulomatous response to carrageenan. Hyaluronic acid was the only GAG detected in the lung lavage fluids. Hyaluronic acid occurred in the airways on day two of the allergic granulomatous response, but its presence in the airway did not correlate with ensuing granuloma formation in the parenchyma. Generalized increases in GAG of the parenchyma also peaked on day two of the DTH responses. Generalized increases in GAG peaked on day five during the foreign-body granulomatous response to carrageenan. A persistently elevated level of HA in the lung tissue correlated with granuloma formation but not with the intensity of the response.

Topics: Animals; Bacterial Proteins; BCG Vaccine; Chondroitin Sulfates; Female; Glycosaminoglycans; Granuloma; Hyaluronic Acid; Hypersensitivity; Hypersensitivity, Delayed; Immunization; Kinetics; Lung; Rabbits