Cough is the most frequent complaint of patients seeking medical attention in general and hospital practice. Cough is controlled by treating the cause, however, when no cause can be found, symptomatic relief of cough must be considered. Treatment of dry cough resulting from increased sensitivity of the cough reflex remains a challenge in some subjects. Codeine in combination with other medicine...

It is now well-established that sensory nerves stimulation in the airway induces bronchoconstriction and inflammation, but also protective reflexes, such as coughing. These effects are mediated through the release of tachykinins (substance P and neurokinin A) and we have recently shown that SR 48968, a tachykinin NK2-receptor antagonist, inhibited cough induced by citric acid. In this paper, we...

Cough is a common symptom of respiratory diseases associated with irritation or inflammation of the airways, and symptomatic antitussive drugs are frequently prescribed to control an abnormal cough reflex. Our aim was to evaluate the effects of moguisteine, a novel, peripheral, nonnarcotic antitussive agent, on airway inflammation induced in guinea-pigs with a variety of stimuli. These stimuli ...

Codeine has been prescribed to pediatric patients for many decades as both an analgesic and an antitussive agent. Codeine is a prodrug with little inherent pharmacologic activity and must be metabolized in the liver into morphine, which is responsible for codeine's analgesic effects. However, there is substantial genetic variability in the activity of the responsible hepatic enzyme, CYP2D6, and...

Sigma-1 receptor antagonists promote antinociception in several models of pain, but the effects of sigma-1 agonists on nociception (particularly when the nociceptive system is primed) are not so well characterized; therefore we evaluated the effects of sigma-1 agonists on pain under different experimental conditions. The systemic administration of the selective sigma-1 agonists (+)-pentazocine ...

BACKGROUND The hypothesis that adrenaline can augment and/or prolong the antitussive effect of nebulised lignocaine was examined. METHODS The effect of inhaled lignocaine alone (20 mg) and in combination with adrenaline (400 micrograms) was studied on capsaicin-induced cough in 10 healthy subjects. RESULTS Cough was significantly reduced between five and 25 minutes by lignocaine. Adrenaline...

The cough is a protective reflex mechanism that removes foreign material and secretions from the bronchi and bronchioles of the airways; it is inappropriately stimulated in various situations like inflammation of the respiratory tract or neoplasia. In these cases, cough has a pathological character and it is necessary sometimes to use cough-suppressant drugs. The most frequently used antitussiv...