AIM OF THE STUDY The present investigation was carried out to provide the pharmacological basis for the medicinal use of Terminalia bellerica in hyperactive gastrointestinal and respiratory disorders. MATERIALS AND METHODS Crude extract of Terminalia bellerica fruit (Tb.Cr) was studied in in vitro and in vivo. RESULTS Tb.Cr caused relaxation of spontaneous contractions in isolated rabbit je...

We recently developed a computational model of an airway embedded in elastic parenchyma (Bates JH, Lauzon AM. J Appl Physiol 102: 1912-1920, 2007) that accurately mimics the time dependence of airway resistance on tidal volume and positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) following methacholine injection in normal animals. In the present study, we compared the model predictions of bronchodilation...

Zardaverine is a newly developed selective phosphodiesterase III and IV inhibitor. This study investigates the bronchodilatory properties of zardaverine, administered by inhalation. Twelve patients with reversible bronchial obstruction (increase in forced expiratory volume in one second (change FEV1 % predicted) at least 15% after 200 micrograms salbutamol, median age 31 yrs, range 21-54 years)...

3-iodothyronamine (T1AM) is a trace amine derived from thyroid hormone metabolism circulating in rodents and humans (Scanlan et al 2004; Galli et al., 2012; Saba et al., 2010., Manni et al., 2013) whose physiological role remains to be discovered. Much is instead known on T1AM pharmacological effects including hyperalgesia and stimulation of learning in mice (Manni et al.2014). The mechanisms r...

In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, cross-over trial, we studied the effects of the muscarinic M1-receptor-selective antagonist (+/-)-telenzepine (3 mg orally at 6 p.m. for 5 days) in 21 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). At enrollment all patients showed at least a 50% decrease in airway resistance (Raw) after inhalation of 400 micrograms fenoterol or 20...