Basenji-Greyhound dog model of asthma: influence of atropine on antigen-induced bronchoconstriction

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Abstract
To test the relative importance of cholinergic effects in the Basenji-Greyhound (GB) model of asthma, Ascaris antigen was administered to Ascaris-sensitive BG dogs without other treatment, and following i.v. atropine. Pulmonary resistance (RL) increased from 1.4 .+-. 0.43 cmH2O/l per s (mean + SE) to 26.0 .+-. 5.21 after Ascaris antigen exposure in 7 untreated dogs. In the same 7 dogs pretreated with 0.2 mg/kg atropine, RL increased from 1.5 .+-. 0.31 to 18 .+-. 5.00. Atropine 0.4 and 1.0 mg/kg did not increase protection. Although 0.2 mg/kg atropine markedly inhibited the airway responses to both inhaled citric acid and methacholine, it only slightly prevented antigen-induced airway constriction. In BG dogs, cholinergic pathways elicit bronchomotor responses to irritants but that the major component of antigen-induced bronchoconstriction is not cholinergically mediated.

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