Figure 3

Goishi tea consumption attenuates AHR.^#: p < 0.05 (vs. Tap water/Der f group);^##: p < 0.01 (vs. Tap water/Der f group); *: p < 0.05 (vs. Goishi tea/Der f group). **: p < 0.01 (vs. Goishi tea/Der f group). AHR: airway hyper responsiveness; Der f: Dermatophagoides farinae. The figure shows that the increase in AHR, following ACh challenges, was significantly inhibited in Goishi tea/Der f and Gallic acid/Der f as compared with the Tap water/Der f group (p < 0.01). In addition, the AHR inhibitory effect in Gallic acid/Der f group was more efficient than that of Goishi tea/Der f group (p < 0.01). On the other hand, all Der f non-exposed groups showed significantly reduced airway reactivity to ACh throughout the experiment (p < 0.01, vs Tap water/Der f). To measure AHR to ACh, changes in respiratory overflow volume were measured using an increasing dose of ACh. The area under the curve (AUC) calculated from dose-response curves for ACh was used to express the magnitude of AHR. Briefly, each dose was converted logarithmically; AUC was calculated and represented as arbitrary units.