Background: Psychological stress exacerbates mast cell (MC)-dependent
inflammation, including nasal allergy, but the underlying mechanisms are
not well understood. Because the key stress-mediating neurohormone,
corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), induces human skin MC
degranulation, we hypothesized that CRH may be a key player in
stress-aggravated nasal allergy. The current study probes this
hypothesis in human nasal mucosa MCs (hM-MCs) in situ, using nasal polyp
organ culture, and tests whether CRH is required for murine M-MC
activation by perceived stress in vivo. Methods: Organ-cultured nasal
polyps were used as a surrogate tissue for human upper airway mucosa and
stimulated with CRH. In addition to quantitative immunohistomorphometry
and transmission electron microscopy, we investigated whether perceived
(restraint) stress activates murine M-MCs in vivo and whether this is
CRH-dependent. Results: CRH stimulation significantly increased the
number of hM-MCs, stimulated both their degranulation and proliferation
ex vivo, and increased SCF expression in human nasal mucosa epithelium
compared to controls. CRH also sensitized hM-MCs to further CRH
stimulation and promoted a pro-inflammatory hM-MC phenotype. The
CRH-induced increase in hM-MCs was abrogated by co-administration of
CRH-R1 specific antagonist antalarmin, CRH-R1 siRNA, or SCF-neutralizing
antibody. In vivo, both acute and chronic restraint stress significantly
increased the number and degranulation of murine M-MCs compared to
sham-stressed mice. This effect was abrogated by intranasal antalarmin.
Conclusion: CRH is a major activator of hM-MC in nasal mucosa, in part
via promoting SCF production, and CRH-R1 antagonists like antalarmin are
promising candidate therapeutics for nasal mucosa neuroinflammation
induced by perceived stress.