Charles River conducts contract studies in an established ovalbumin (OVA)-induced asthma model in the Brown Norway rat to investigate the basic pathology of asthma and assess the in vivo efficacy of anti-asthma drugs. This animal model features many similarities to human allergic asthma, including the presence of eosinophilic lung inflammation, damage to the airway epithelium, thickening of the basement membrane, acute and late-phase airflow obstruction and the presence of airway hyperresponsiveness after the antigen challenge.
Total and differential cell counts of inflammatory cells in the lung are performed on the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid at various time points to observe the time course of inflammation and evaluate the effects of compounds. Additional services that can be combined with this asthma model include cytokine profiling, histopathologic evaluations and assessments of airway hyperresponsiveness (e.g., Penh assessments in conscious animals or anesthetized assessments of resistance and compliance).
Testing / Validation Data
Click below to see a sample data set.