ESTABLISHMENT AND APPLICATION OF THE ABDOMINAL-WALL METHOD (AW METHOD) FOR INDUCTION AND DETECTION OF IMMEDIATE ALLERGY

Previously, we proposed an original mouse anaphylactic model using the abdominal wall as a site for both the induction and estimation (AW me thod). The anaphylactic intensity was estimated by VPV (vascular perme ability value) corresponding to the given diameters of the dye-permeat ed area on the abdominal wall. In this paper, we investigated both the theoretical fundamentals and the application of the AW method for the detection of antigens and anti-allergic substances in food. Theoretic ally, VPV (1) reflected the IgE-dependence of the anaphylaxis high sen sitively, (2) linearly increased with the dose of challenging antigen, and (3) decreased in a dose-dependent manner by oral preadministratio n of diphenhydramine hydrochloride. Furthermore, the VPV was shown to be dependent on the histamine concentration injected into the abdomina l wall of normal mice. For the application of the AW method, existence of allergens was confirmed significantly after challenge with food (i .e., egg, milk, or soybean; or processed foods prepared from these mat erials) in mice sensitized previously with the preceding food. Mice se nsitized with a known antigenic protein exhibited significantly an ant igen-specific anaphylactic reaction after challenge with food containi ng the same antigen. The optimum dose for sensitization and interval f or detection were 50 mu g/mouse and 9 d for both ovalbumin and hen egg lysozyme, while p-lactoglobulin needed 500 mu g/mouse and 14 d. It ca n be concluded that AW method is widely applicable for the detection o f the known and unknown allergens in foods, simply, high sensitively, reproducibly, and quantitatively. In addition, the AW method was shown to be available for the search of anti-allergic substances in foods, and for the screening of anti-allergic drugs.