Bronchial asthma and diabetes mellitus. Experimental evidences of mutual exclusion.

The reasons for the frequent mutual exclusion in the same patient of asthma and diabetes and the fact that dextran anaphylactoid reaction does not occur in diabetic rats remain unknown. The mortality induced by the compound 48/80 and its histamine releasing effect from peritoneal mast cells have been tested in alloxan diabetic rats. The effect of acetylcholine on isolated airways from these animals has also been investigated. It is suggested that the lower quantity of peritoneal mast cells found in diabetic animals (and not the histamine released from its mast cells or airway hyporeactivity to acetylcholine) contributes to the protective effect of diabetes mellitus to the anaphylactoid reaction consequences.