G. Marshman et al., COMPARISON OF THE ACTIONS OF KALLIDIN AND BRADYKININ IN THE SKIN OF NORMAL AND PSORIATIC SUBJECTS, Clinical and experimental dermatology, 21(2), 1996, pp. 112-115
With the recent development of selective drugs acting on the kinin sys
tem and the identification of a kallikrein-like enzyme from psoriatic
blister fluid, there is now much interest in the possible role of kini
ns in psoriasis. We have examined the time-course of the inflammatory
(weal and flare) responses to intradermal kallidin (lysbradykinin) and
bradykinin in normal volunteers, and have compared the dose-response
effect of these agents in normal volunteers and patients with psoriasi
s. Initially, normal subjects (n = 5) received coded intradermal injec
tions of 50 mu l normal saline containing kallidin or bradykinin (0.1,
0.5, 1.0 and 5.0 mu g). Weal volume, weal area and flare area were ca
lculated at 5, 15, 30 and 60 min by measuring two perpendicular diamet
ers and change in skinfold thickness. Weal and flare measurements were
subsequently made at 15 and 5 min, respectively. Patients with psoria
sis (n = 9) and normal subjects (n = 10) were given intradermal inject
ions of kallidin (0.1 and 1.0 mu g) and bradykinin (0.1, 0.5 and 1.0 m
u g) in clinically normal forearm skin, using histamine and normal sal
ine as controls. The dose-response effects of kallidin on weal and fla
re responses in human skin were established in the study and compared
with those of bradykinin. There was wide inter-individual variability
for both agents and, although mean responses to the highest doses of k
allidin and bradykinin were decreased in psoriatic skin, no significan
t differences were found between the psoriatic and normal group for ka
llidin, bradykinin or histamine. Hence, there do not appear to be any
obvious altered vascular responses to kallidin or bradykinin in patien
ts with psoriasis, despite the fact that kinins may be generated in ps
oriatic tissue.