Increased airway responsiveness of a common fragrance component, 3-carene, after skin sensitisation--a study in isolated guinea pig lungs.

Lungs from skin-sensitised and non-sensitised guinea pigs were exposed via the airways to 3-carene (1900mg/m3) and perfused with buffer containing either autologous plasma or lymphocytes. The experiments were performed in order to investigate the importance of blood components for the increased lung responsiveness seen in skin-sensitised animals. A reduction in lung function was noted in all lungs during 3-carene exposure. There was no difference in the 3-carene response between lungs from skin-sensitised animals versus lungs from non-sensitised animals when the perfusion buffer contained lymphocytes. However, when plasma diluted with buffer was used as perfusion medium, there was a significant enhancement in the response in lungs from sensitised versus lungs from non-sensitised animals. This implies that skin sensitisation increases lung responses to inhaled 3-carene and those components in plasma, and not the lymphocyte fraction, contributes to the observed increased lung responsiveness.