Allergic Asthma Mouse Model

The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of China Medical University approved the experimental animal protocol of the study. All animals were maintained and treated in accordance with the Principles of Laboratory Animal Care formulated by the National Society for Medical Research and the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals prepared by the Institute of Laboratory Animal Resources, National Research Council, and published by the National Academy Press. Female BALB/c mice at 6–8 weeks of age were obtained from the National Laboratory Animal Center in Taiwan. Experimental mice were sensitized with intraperitoneal injection of 4 μg house dust mite (HDM, Indoor Biotechnologies Ltd, Cardiff, UK) mixed with 40 μg aluminum hydroxide gel adjuvant (Invitrogen, San Diego, CA) on days 0, 7, and 14, and received intranasal challenge with 4 μg HDM from days 22 to 26 (Kim et al., 2014 (link)).