الفهرس 
AllergyOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Allergic diseases represent one of the most widely distributed, worldwide growing and life pattern disturbing diseases. Such diseases require long term treatment and combination therapies which adds so much burden on the patient; psychological, physical and economical burdens. This significantly affects the allergic patient’s pattern of life. Search for new, effective and safe antiallergic drugs is still in progress. Curcumin is the active constituent of the rhizomes of Curcuma Longa. It is one of the most promising phytochemicals. Recently, it has withdrawn international attention due to its several pharmacological activities. Quercetin is a flavonoid widely distributed in several plants. It has proven to be effective in treatment of several diseases especially inflammatory diseases. This study was undertaken to evaluate the potential antiallergic activity of both compounds; curcumin and quercetin. This has been achieved using different experimental models. The protective activity against experimentally induced systemic anaphylactic shock in mice using compound 48/80 was evaluated. Also, the effect on passive cutaneous anaphylaxis reaction in the skin of rats produced using serum from rats previously sensitized using egg albumin was also evaluated. This part of the work was undertaken to evaluate the antiallergic properties of both drugs. To elucidate the mechanism of action: the effect of curcumin and quercetin on histamine release from isolated guinea pigs’ peritoneal mast cells stimulated with compound 48/80 and the effect on release from isolated egg albumin-sensitized guinea pigs’ peritoneal mast cells challenged with egg albumin was investigated. The effect on biosynthesis of the slow reacting substances of anaphylaxis in isolated egg albumin-sensitized guinea pigs’ lung fragments challenged with egg albumin was evaluated. Using isolated guinea pig tracheal zigzag, The leukotriene D4, Histamine H1 and 5-HT2 receptor antagonistic activity was investigated. Based on the results of this study we can conclude that: Both curcumin and quercetin possess antiallergic activities. Further clinical study is recommended to evaluate the effectiveness of both compounds in prophylaxis and treatment of different allergic diseases and also determination of the required therapeutic doses.