Allergy.  1995 Jun;15(2):230-238.

The effect of inhaled disodium cromo-glycate on the peripheral blood eosinophil count and serum IgE level in stable bronchial asthmatics

• Park IW
• Hue SH
• Kim SH
• Sung YU
• Koh HG
• Kang YC
• Choi BW

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
It is widely known that inhaled disodium cromoglycate is highly efficious in the prophylactic treatment of asthma but the mechanism of this action is not known. We have investigated the effect of 12 weeks of therapy with inhaled disodium cromoglycate in a group of stable individuals with asthma on bronchial hyperresponsiveness and atopic parameters.
METHODS
The study group comprised 34 consecutive patients who had mild bronchial asthma. All patients were derided into two groups. The control group(N=17) was treated with above conventional therapy only, while the DSCG group(N=17) was treated with above regimen plus 12 weeks of inhalation of DSCG (20rag four times a day). We measured forced expiratory volume at 1 second (FEV1), provocative concentration of methacholine causing a 20 % fall in FEV1(meth PC20), peripheral eosinophil count, and serum IgE level before and after treatment.
RESULTS
This course of treatment did not alter the FEV1 predicted value. However, DSCG treatment had a marked reducing of bronchial hyperresponsiveness and peripheral eosinophil counts. A small but significant decrease of serum IgE was also observed (p<0.05).
CONCLUSION
Inhaled DSCG therapy reduced BHR, peripheral eosinophils and serum IgE in bronchial asthmatics. These results suggest that the efficacy of DSCG in bronchial asthma might be related to its ability to block the local immunologic network.

MeSH Terms

Asthma
Cromolyn Sodium
Eosinophils*
Forced Expiratory Volume
Humans
Immunoglobulin E*
Inhalation
Methacholine Chloride
Cromolyn Sodium
Immunoglobulin E
Methacholine Chloride