Pulmonary immunity to ragweed in a Beagle dog model of allergic asthma

To create an allergy model in the dog, allergic Beagles with high levels of serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) and eosinophilia were bred; resulting puppies were sensitized to ragweed by intraperitoneal (IP) injection within 24 hou rs of birth through 22 weeks of age. At least 50% of the puppies developed high levels of serum IgE and eosinophilia. As young adults, 6 of these dogs , and 6 control age-matched, nonallergic, nonimmunized dogs were exposed by inhalation to ragweed twice at 13-day intervals, and a third time 45 days later. Total and ragweed-specific serum IgE and ragweed-specific serum IgE were increased significantly in allergic dogs relative to baseline. Allergi c dogs had significantly greater levels of antibody specific for ragweed, a s well as higher eosinophil counts in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, com pared to nonallergic dogs. Airway reactivity to histamine in allergic, but not nonallergic dogs, increased significantly after aerosol exposure to rag weed. After a third exposure to ragweed, airway responses to histamine were elevated in the allergic dogs and remained high for at least 5 months. The se results demonstrate the potential of the allergic dog model for investig ating the underlying pulmonary immune mechanisms and therapeutic treatment of allergic asthma.