Chronic airway inflammation may induce subsequent airway hyper-responsiveness (AHR) including pathological alteration of neural activity. Asthmatic airways contain elevated levels of neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) albeit, their effect on neural activity is unclear. This study evaluates the effects of NT-3 and BDNF on nerve mediated airway contractions in vitr...

The effects of remodeling of airway smooth muscle (SM) by hyperplasia on airway SM contractility in vivo are poorly explored. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between allergen-induced airway SM hyperplasia and its contractile phenotype. Brown Norway rats were sensitized with ovalbumin (OVA) or saline on day 0 and then either OVA-challenged once on day 14 and killed 24 h...

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) transduce extracellular signals into intracellular events. The waning responsiveness of GPCRs in the face of persistent agonist stimulation, or desensitization, is a necessary event that ensures physiological homeostasis. GPCR kinases (GRKs) are important regulators of GPCR desensitization. GRK5, one member of the GRK family, desensitizes central M(2) muscari...

Objective(s): For determining the mechanism of anti-asthmatic effect of thymoquinone, this investigation evaluated the effect of thymoquinone in the presence of selective A2A and A2B adenosine receptor antagonists (ZM241385 and MRS1706, respectively). Materials and Methods: Seventy guinea pigs were randomly divided to 7 groups; control (C), sensitized with ovalbumin (S), sensitized groups pretr...

The effects of selective cyclooxygenase (COX) isoform (COX-1, COX-2) inhibition, alone or in combination with nitric-oxide synthase (NOS) blockade, on in vitro tracheal muscle responsiveness to histamine were investigated in healthy and ovalbumin (OVA)-sensitized guinea pigs. Immunohistochemistry showed that COX-1 and COX-2 are constitutively present in normal guinea pig trachea, particularly i...

background: asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways. the available treatment options have major limitations owing to low efficacy, associated adverse events and compliance issues. therefore, the health burden of bronchial asthma is increasing globally at an alarming rate, providing a strong impetus for the development of new therapeutics. myrica sapida is known traditionally in...

Children chronically exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) have more coughs, wheezes, and airway obstruction, which may result in part from stimulation of lung C fibers. We examined the effect of chronic exposure to sidestream tobacco smoke (SS, a surrogate for ETS) on lung C-fiber responsiveness in guinea pigs, in which dynamic compliance (Cdyn), lung resistance, tracheal pressure, arte...

Inhalational insulin was withdrawn from the market due to its potential to produce airway hyper-reactivity and bronchoconstriction. So the present study was designed to explore the acute effects of insulin on airway reactivity of guinea pigs and protective effects of salbutamol and beclomethasone against insulin induced airway hyper-responsiveness on isolated tracheal smooth muscle of guinea pi...

Several key events in the multistep process of neoplastic transformation of rat tracheal epithelium (RTE) are described. Whether tracheal epithelium is exposed in vivo to carcinogenic agents or whether primary tracheal epithelial cells are exposed in vitro to carcinogens, initiated stem cells can be detected soon after the exposure by their ability to grow under selective conditions in culture....