Murine models of hapten-induced asthma.

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the respiratory tract that is characterized by reversible airflow obstruction and airway hyperresponsiveness. The non-atopic variant of asthma that appears later in life has no allergic background and is more severe and resistant to standard treatment. Hapten-induced asthma models can be utilized to investigate mechanisms behind the development of non-atopic and occupational asthma, in which non-allergic processes seems to play significant role. The development of adequate animal models of non-allergic asthma is a necessary prerequisite both for understanding the pathophysiology of non-allergic asthma and for the possibility of testing new therapies. Still, there is no ideal model that represents all the hallmarks of this complex disease. In this review, we examine the most popular hapten-induced murine models of occupational and non-atopic asthma. For this reason, we describe the most popular sensitizing haptens, sensitization and challenge protocols, symptoms produced by asthma, and advantages and disadvantages of the models.