ABSTRACT
Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of montelukast and hydrocortisone on some white blood cell indices of asthma induces Sprague Dawley rats. The primary objective was to investigate the impact of montelukast and hydrocortisone on specific white blood cell indices, such as total white blood cell count, eosinophil count, neutrophil count, lymphocyte count and basophil count in Sprague Dawley rats. To achieve this 80 female Sprague Dawley rats were used for this study, which were divided into 2 main groups (control and test groups). Control was subdivided into: Group 1 control- not induced with asthma, Group 2 negative control- induced with asthma but not treated. While the test group was divided into: Group 3(asthma induced and treated with montelukast), Group 4(asthma induced and treated with hydrocortisone). Asthma was induced by sensitizing the rats with 1 mg OVA and 200 mg aluminum hydroxide dissolved in 0.9 saline on day 0 and 7, challenged with OVA(1% w/v, adsorbed in 0.9 saline) twice weekly from day 7 of treatment until the last day. Normal control group were sensitized and challenged with intraperitoneal injection and aerosolize saline respectively. During the period of challenge, the tested groups were being treated with 5 mg/kg hydrocortisone and 10 mg/kg montelukast. The result depicted a statistically significant decrease in total white blood cell with P<0.05 in hydrocortisone groups when compared to negative control groups, also a statistically significant increase in %levels of lymphocytes in negative control group when compared to control groups. For monocytes, the result showed a statistically significant increase in negative control groups when compared to control group, a decrease in the montelukast group when compared to negative control group and also an increase in the hydrocortisone groups when compared to control group. For neutrophils, the result showed a statistically significant increase in negative control groups and montelukast group when compared to control group, a decrease in neutrophils in montelukast and hydrocortisone groups when compared to negative control group, the result also showed a statistically significant increase in hydrocortisone group when compared to control group. For eosinophils, the result showed a statistically significant increase in the negative control, montelukast and hydrocortisone group when compared to control group and also an increase in montelukast group when compared to negative control group. For basophils, the result showed a statistically significant increase in negative control groups when compared to control group. In conclusion this study showed a statistically significant increase in all observed white blood cell indices of asthmatic rats when compared to the non-asthmatic rats. However when treated with montelukast and hydrocortisone, there was a significant decrease in the white blood cell indices except for eosinophils where a significant increase was observed. This could be as a result of corticosteroid resistance or asthma disease progression or other factors.It is therefore concluded that some other factors could affect the normal effects of montelukast and hydrocortisone on WBC indices. However, montelukast and hydrocortisone showed a positive quantitative correspondence of the white blood indices within their individual set points.
