[The study of chemical mediators in the patients with allergic rhinitis. 1). Histamine, leukotriene and kinins in the nasal secretion during early phase response].

For the purpose of studying the roles of chemical mediators during early phase response of allergic rhinitis, the levels of histamine, leukotriene C4 (LTC4) and kinins in the nasal lavage fluid were measured before and after the nasal challenges with antigens. Seventeen patients with perennial allergic rhinitis with positive intradermal skin reactions to mite antigen extracts were included in this study. The nasal samples were obtained both by aspirating and instilling 5 ml of saline into patient's nostrils before and ten minutes after the nasal challenges. After the nasal challenge with control disk, the concentration of histamine in the nasal samples increased, and the concentrations of LTC4 and kinins did not increase significantly. After the nasal challenges with mite or house dust disk, the concentration of histamine increased as much the same as that after the nasal challenges with control disk, and the concentrations of LTC4 and kinins increased significantly compared with those after the nasal challenges with control disk. delta histamine and delta kinins (delta: net increments in the concentrations after the nasal challenge with antigen over values before the nasal challenge) were significantly correlated with delta albumin. The patients with severe nasal symptoms tended to present more remarkable net increments of chemical mediators than the patients with mild and moderate nasal symptoms. Similar tendencies were recognized in the relationships between the severity of nasal symptoms provoked by nasal challenge with antigen and net increments of chemical mediators. We suggest that the amounts of chemical mediators during the allergic reaction denoted the severity of nasal symptoms in allergic rhinitis patients.