Detection of murine interleukin 18 in peripheral blood and number of eosinophil in BALF of asthma model

[Objective] To study the changes of peripheral blood interleukin (IL)-18 in the serum of asthma and the number of eosinophils in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of asthma. [Methods] 24 six-wk-old female BALB/c mice were divided into two groups: (a) saline control group,(b)asthma group. Mice in group (b) were administered 10 μg of OVA and 20 μg of aluminium hydroxide intraperitoneally on days 1,8 and 15,then challenged with 5% OVA for 20 minutes on day 29-34,sacrificed 24 hour after the last antigen challenge. Mice in group (a) was administrated with saline. The serum levels of IL-18 in 12 mice with acute asthma and 12 healthy controls were measured by ELISA. The number of cells and the percentage of eosinophil in BALF were counted in BACF. [Results] The serum level of IL-18 in acute asthmatic mice was significantly higher than that in healthy controls (P 0.01). [Conclusions] IL-18 might participate in the pathogenesis of asthma.