Studies on acute inflammation in the chicken using turpentine-induced pleuroperitonitis as a test system.

An acute inflammatory reaction was induced in chickens by intraperitoneal injection of turpentine. The birds were then killed at various intervals and the peritoneal exudate sampled. The antihistamine mepyramine maleate was administered to another group of birds and the procedure repeated. Following turpentine injections there was a biphasic increase in vascular permeability, the early phase apparently mediated by histamine.