Friday, July 27, 2012

What are the main facts that must be known about Chronic Urticaria?

By Brian Coze


Do you know what chronic urticaria is? Chronic urticaria is essentially an allergic reaction. Like any type of allergy, this also requires some triggering factors to stimulate it. This risk factor can be the simple food item that you eat. You might have allergic reactions to a type of food that other people are safe with. For instance, you might eat nuts daily. But it could be the cause of allergies springing up in others. There are different immune cells in the body like dendritic cells, mast cells, T cells and so on. In response to the various agents and antigens that invade the body, antibodies are produced to combat them. This response could then possibly result to chronic urticaria and other allergies. It is commonly characterized by an itchy feeling and some swelling, or colored hives with a red base. Areas commonly affected are whole layers of the skin, and even the mouth and lips.

The main agent that is involved in the pathogenesis process of this disease is the mast cell. Upon stimulation by an agent from the outside, histamines are subsequently produced. Along with these histamines, prostaglandins that are formed at that time will also be released.

Vasodilatation subsequently takes place the moment these are released from the cytoplasmic granules. Erythema would then be the next stage. The formation of wheals would necessitate a number of mediators before it could happen. For one, chemo attractants are going to be released by the neutrophils. There will be some itching involved. Since these are also involved in chronic urticaria, you cannot use antihistamines to treat such a condition. Since the causative agents are different, it will not be effective when used.

There are two main types of chronic urticaria. Auto immune chronic urticaria is one. This is a condition that affects 45 per cent of the population who has chronic urticaria. The other 55 percent, however, will have the other type: idiopathic type. There will be many types of antibodies that are produced in both cases. Immunoglobulin G auto antibodies are going to be pitted against the Fc receptor of IgE. The alpha subunit in the Fc receptor of IgE will be what it will be up against. In many instances, they can also be produced to go against the auto antibodies known as anti IgE.

Histamines from immune cells called basophile will be triggered into release once the body has been attacked. It will also be helped along by the complement system that is found in the blood. These reactions will cause the production of C5a. The mast cells will become activated even more. It would also mimic the function of chemo attractants. Thus it will attract the neutrophils and eosinophils. The clumping together of these immune cells will result in the appearance of lesions all over the skin in different parts of the body. It is also likely that you will witness some swelling and other allergic reactions all over your skin once the dermal mast cells decide to produce and release larger amounts of histamine.




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