WBN/Kob-Ht Rats Spontaneously Develop Dermatitis under Conventional Conditions: Another Possible Model for Atopic Dermatitis

• Published in: Experimental Animals Vol. 54; no. 5; pp. 461 - 465
• Main Authors: ASAKAWA, Makoto, YOSHIOKA, Takeshi, HIKITA, Ichiro, MATSUTANI, Takaji, HIRASAWA, Tsutomu, ARIMURA, Akinori, SAKATA, Tsuneaki, HORIKAWA, Tatsuya
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japan Japanese Association for Laboratory Animal Science 01.01.2005
• Subjects: Animals; atopic dermatitis; Dermatitis, Atopic - blood; Dermatitis, Atopic - genetics; Dermatitis, Atopic - pathology; Disease Models, Animal; DS-Nh mice; Immunoglobulin E - blood; Interferon-gamma - blood; Interleukin-4 - blood; Rats; Rats, Mutant Strains; Skin - microbiology; Skin - pathology; Staphylococcus aureus; Staphylococcus aureus - isolation & purification; WBN/Kob-Ht rats
• ISSN: 1341-1357; 1881-7122
• DOI: 10.1538/expanim.54.461

WBN/Kob-Ht rats (Ht-rats) raised under conventional conditions spontaneously developed dermatitis. In this study, we carried out histopathological analysis to elucidate the pathological features of the dermatitis in Ht-rats. We then tried to detect Staphylococcus species recovered from the skin lesions of Ht-rats. We also measured the serum levels of total IgE, IL-4 and IFN-γ in these rats. The histopathological data indicated that inflammatory cells had infiltrated the skin lesions. Staphylococcus aureus was recovered from the skin lesions, and the serum levels of total IgE and IL-4 were elevated in Ht-rats with dermatitis. These results suggest that dermatitis in Ht-rats is similar to that in the DS-Nh mice, which has recently been proposed as an animal model for human atopic dermatitis.