Increased IgE Antiovalbumin Level in Mice Exposed to Formaldehyde

Abstract

The effect of formaldehyde exposure on the sensitization of mice to ovalbumin was investigated. Significantly increased IgE antiovalbumin titers were found in mice sensitized intranasally to ovalbumin and exposed for 10 days to 2 mg/m³ of formaldehyde. In contrast, mice not exposed to formaldehyde or exposed once a week produced low levels of this antibody. The exposure of mice, sensitized intraperitoneally with ovalbumin, to formaldehyde did not increase sensitization. It was concluded that formaldehyde facilitates sensitization of mice to ovalbumin by changes that occur in the respiratory tract.

Adjuvant effects of gaseous formaldehyde on the hyper-responsiveness and inflammation in a mouse asthma model immunized by ovalbumin

“…Previous studies have found that after FA exposure, anti-FA IgE was neither present in the mouse body (Tarkowski and Gorski, 1995) nor in the human body (Kramps et al, 1989;Liden et al, 1993, Krakowiak et al, 1998, but the level of anti-OVA IgE in mice exposed to FA was increased after FA exposure (Tarkowski and Gorski, 1995). This finding suggests that FA is not an antigen, but an adjuvant (Wolkoff et al, 2010); therefore, FA may only induce asthma when it occurs with allergen (i.e., OVA) combined exposure.…”

“…Some of the previous studies (Franco et al, 2006(Franco et al, , 2009(Franco et al, , 2010 did not indicate the real FA exposure concentration in units of ppm or mg/m 3 and the actual exposure levels may have been far higher than that in real life. Consequently, the biological effects such as the IgE or IgG 1 expression and eosinophil count in BALF were different among the studies (Tarkowski and Gorski, 1995;Riedel et al, 1996;Jung et al, 2007;Qiao et al, 2009; see Table 1). …”

“…Similar results were also found in a rat model (Qiao et al, 2009). When combined with ovalbumin (OVA) sensitization, FA exposure can induce the following: increased serum levels of anti-OVA IgE in a mouse model (Tarkowski and Gorski, 1995); a high ratio (i.e., 10/12) in guinea pigs with positive signs by sensitive pulmonary function testing (Riedel et al, 1996); and, lung histological changes (i.e., pulmonary inflammation, airway remodeling), increased airway resistance, eosinophil infiltration, and increased IL-4 levels in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) in rats (Qiao et al, 2009). Tavaresde-Limaa and colleagues (see Franco et al, 2006Franco et al, , 2009Franco et al, , 2010) obtained a different series of results.…”

Formaldehyde exposure enhances inhalative allergic sensitization in the guinea pig

“…In a recent study, higher levels of specific IgE antibodies to intranasally applied antigens were produced in mice exposed to FA ( 10).…”

Acetaldehyde at a Low Concentration Synergistically Exacerbates Allergic Airway Inflammation as an Endocrine-Disrupting Chemical and as a Volatile Organic Compound

“…A relationship between EDCs and allergic diseases has been established [6,7,8,9,10], but the exact mechanism underlying this relationship remains obscure. Volatile EDCs are generally referred to as volatile organic compounds (VOCs).…”