ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the animal models of toluene diisocyanate (TDI)-induced airway hyperresponsiveness and edema. It examines only the airway injury and altered responses which occur after an acute exposure to TDI. The chapter explores the mechanisms underlying the acute changes is useful in understanding altered airway smooth muscle responsiveness in general and is not to be strictly applied to the specific airway disease, TDI-induced asthma. It provides the production of airway edema by chemical irritants by following the extravasation of plasma proteins into the airway wall. The method involves the use of Evans blue dye, a substance that binds to plasma proteins and enables reader to examine protein flux without the use of radiolabeled proteins. The chapter utilizes the guinea pig because of the large amount of historical data describing the influence of environmental and workplace chemicals on pulmonary function in mammalian species. The health of the guinea pig is critically important in studies of airway disease.
