Physiologic alterations in the murine model after nasal fungal antigenic exposure.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether a recently developed murine model of fungus-induced sinonasal inflammation demonstrated alterations in ciliary activity and expression of inflammatory cytokines. STUDY DESIGN A prospective randomized controlled study of rhinosinusitis after fungal antigenic sensitization was performed with intraperitoneal aspergillus antigen injection followed by intranasal antigen challenge for 4 weeks. Saline solution was used in a parallel fashion for control animals. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Six mice were used to validate the model. Additional 15 mice were used for ciliary beat frequency (CBF) analysis and cytokine expression with multiplex technology. Mean values for degree of inflammation, secretory hyperplasia, CBF, and cytokine expression were compared. RESULTS Histologic analyses demonstrated dense chronic inflammation in aspergillus-challenged animals versus sparse inflammatory cells in controls. Significant differences in mean of aspergillus-challenged versus control animals were observed in degree of inflammation (P < 0.01), secretory hyperplasia (P < 0.01), CBF (P < 0.00002), IL-1alpha (P < 0.0002), IL-1beta (P < 0.0003), IL-4 (P < 0.02), TNF-alpha (P < 0.02), and RANTES (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION Alteration in baseline CBF accompanied by increased expression of specific inflammatory cytokines was observed in aspergillus-challenged mice.