BACKGROUND Long-term and unresolved airway inflammation and airway remodeling, characteristic features of chronic asthma, if not treated could lead to permanent structural changes in the airways. Aldose reductase (AR), an aldo-sugar and lipid aldehyde metabolizing enzyme, mediates allergen-induced airway inflammation in mice, but its role in the airway remodeling is not known. In the present st...

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the lung resulting in airway obstruction. The airway inflammation of asthma is strongly linked to Th2 lymphocytes and their cytokines, particularly IL-4, IL-5, and IL-13, which regulate airway hyperresponsiveness, eosinophil activation, mucus production, and IgE secretion. Historically, complement was not thought to contribute to the pathogenesis of a...

Rhesus monkeys with airway responses to aerosol challenge with Ascaris antigen constitute a primate model of inhalant asthma. Previous studies have shown that bronchial lavage cells from airway-reactive animals will release histamine or a slow-reactive substance of anaphylaxis after challenge with antigen. Because these bronchial lumen cells are the first cells in contact with inhaled antigen, ...

1. Abstract 2. Introduction 3. The beta-agonist controversy in asthma 4. Effect of beta-2-adrenergic receptor agonists in animal and human model systems 4.1. Overview of preclinical data 4.2. Key preclinical enantiomer data on airway contractile function 4.2.1. In vitro animal models of airway contractility 4.2.2. In vivo animal models of airway contractility 4.2.3. Human airway tissue contract...

Allergic asthma is a chronic airway disorder characterized by airway inflammation, mucus hypersecretion, and airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR). A murine model of asthma was used to examine the antiasthmatic effect of inhaled inactived Mycobacterium phlei (M. phlei). AHR, neutrophil levels, eosinophil levels and levels of interleukin (IL)‑17 and IL‑23 receptor (IL‑23R) were monitored. The results...

Nitric oxide (NO) was first detected in the exhaled breath more than a decade ago and has since been investigated as a noninvasive means of assessing lung inflammation. Exhaled NO arises from the airway and alveolar compartments, and new analytical methods have been developed to characterize these sources. A simple two-compartment model can adequately represent many of the observed experimental...

In most experimental model of asthma using guinea pigs, the animals are made to inhale an aerosolized antigen which passes through the nasal cavity. In the present study, we attempted to create an animal model of asthma showing a biphasic asthmatic response and airway hyperresponsiveness, in which the allergic responses are restricted to the lung. Guinea pigs were sensitized by the intratrachea...

An empirical mathematical model that describes the relation between force and length for dynamic loading of maximally activated airway smooth muscle is described. The model consists of three first-order, ordinary differential equations: one for muscle shortening, one for lengthening, and a third that describes the evolution of an internal variable that depends on muscle history. The model fits ...