The cellular and molecular mechanisms that are involved in airway hyper-responsiveness are unclear. Current studies suggest that tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, a cytokine that is produced in considerable quantities in asthmatic airways, may potentially be involved in the development of bronchial hyper-responsiveness by directly altering the contractile properties of the airway smooth muscle...

Telocytes (TCs) newly discovered as the mesenchyme-derived interstitial cells were found to have supportive effects on mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). The present study aimed at investigating effects of TCs or TCs gathered with MSCs on experimental airway inflammation and hyper-responsiveness. The TCs were isolated from the lung tissue of the female BALB/c mice. The ovalbumin (OVA)-induced asthm...

Airway hyper-responsiveness associated with asthma is mediated by airway smooth muscle cells (SMCs) and has a complicated etiology involving increases in cell contraction and proliferation and the secretion of inflammatory mediators. Although these pathological changes are diverse, a common feature associated with their regulation is a change in intracellular Ca(2+) concentration ([Ca(2+)](i))....

Airway hyper-responsiveness (AHR) associated with heightened airway resistance and inflammation is a characteristic feature of asthma. It has been demonstrated that contractile responsiveness and Ca(2+) sensitization to acetylcholine (ACh) in repeated antigen challenge-induced airway hyper-responsive bronchial preparation were significantly increased. The CPI-17 (PKC-potentiated inhibitory prot...

Airways reactivity, hyper-reactivity, and hyper-responsiveness are terms used to describe airways for which there appears to be increased bronchial smooth muscle tone or responsiveness. Some patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) have concomitant asthma causing airway hyperresponsiveness as manifested by recurrent acute symptoms of dyspnea that is impressively responsive to an inhaled beta 2 agonis...

To determine whether mycoplasma infection produces airway hyper-responsiveness to tachykinins and bradykinin and, if so, to elucidate the role of neutral endopeptidase (NEP), isolated hamster tracheal segments were studied under isometric conditions in vitro. Nasal inoculation with Mycoplasma pneumoniae potentiated contractile responses to neurokinin A and bradykinin, causing a leftward shift o...

Asthma is a multifactorial, chronic inflammatory disease of the airways. The knowledge that asthma is an inflammatory disorder has become a core fundamental in the definition of asthma. Asthma's chief features include a variable degree of air-flow obstruction and bronchial hyper-responsiveness, in addition to the underlying chronic airways inflammation. This underlying chronic airway inflammat...