Plasma Levels of Leukotrienes C4 and D4 during Wheezing Attack in Asthmatic Patients

Abstract

To study a role of leukotrienes (LTs) in bronchial asthma, we measured LTC₄ and LTD₄ in plasma of 16 asthmatics during wheezing attack and of 4 normal subjects. Plasma of arterial blood was processed by extraction using the SEP-PAK, followed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Fractions from HPLC with elution times which corresponded to synthetic LTC₄ and LTD₄ were used for quantification of LTs by radioimmunoassay (RIA) and bioassay. LTC₄ was detected in 13 out of 16 asthmatics by RIA (mean ± SD, 410 ± 630 pg/ml) and in 5 by bioassay. LTD₄ was detected in 10 out of 16 asthmatics by RIA (mean ± SD, 540 ± 290 pg/ml) and in 7 by bioassay. No LTs were detected by either method in the normal subjects. The present study shows that LTC₄ and LTD₄ play a role as chemical mediators during asthmatic attack.