Pulmonary pharmacology & therapeutics
-
A variety of foreign "invaders" such as viruses, bacteria and other particulates e.g., cigarette smoke, are inhaled, deposit on the airway surface and invade the "host." Mucins produced by the surface airway epithelium and by the submucosal glands are secreted into the airway lumen. Deposited particulates adhere to the mucus and are cleared via mucociliary transport and via cough. Mucins are major constituents of mucus, which is important in the clearance of inhaled materials. ⋯ Because there are so many small airways, their plugging is difficult to detect early, and this locus is known as a "silent zone." In chronic obstructive airway diseases, plugging of small airways may persist and increase over time, finally resulting in severe airway obstruction. Different obstructive airway diseases induce inflammatory signaling (including mucous hypersecretion) via different stimuli, but often via similar signaling pathways. Application of present knowledge of signaling that occurs with mucous hypersecretion can lead to novel therapies for hypersecretion and cough induced in conducting airways and could prevent plugging in small airways that can lead to clinical deterioration and death.
-
The concept of placebo response has evolved in the past few years from the clinical trial setting and medical practice to a psychobiological model that gives us important information on how the patient's brain is modified by the psychosocial context around the therapy. In this review, some examples will be given where physiological or pathological conditions are altered following the administration of an inert substance along with verbal instructions tailored to induce expectation of a change, and explanations will be presented with details on neurotransmitter changes and neural pathways activated. Although nothing is known about the biological underpinnings of the placebo response in the respiratory system, this review may help extending the neurobiological investigation of placebos from conditions such as pain and Parkinson's disease to respiratory disorders and symptoms such as cough.