Brown Norway ovalbumin model: temporal profile of cytokines

Background The ovalbumin (OVA) sensitized and challenged Brown Norway (BN) rat model is a practical PD model often used to determine the impact of drug treatment on late phase lung inflammation. However, the sole measurement of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) inflammatory cells does not always correlate into human efficacy for respiratory diseases such as asthma. Added value to this rodent model may be derived by a deeper understanding of the relationship between disease-related cytokine secretion and inflammation.