Abstract
It is known that airway mucus contributes widely to mucociliary defense system at airway for protecting from pathogens and environmental toxins. However, in chronic airway diseases, such as bronchial asthma, inflammatory and immune mediators cause hypersecretion of airway mucus and hyperplasia of mucus-secreting cells. Thus, the hypersecretion exaggerates the disease. We have produced a murine model of asthma in which both IAR and LAR were observed after antigen provocation. In this model, we compared the mucus area in the airway lumen during IAR and LAR. Our results suggested that airway hypersecretion may be involved as a component of airway obstruction during LAR, and this is unlikely during IAR. DSCG reduced excessive airway mucus during LAR. Our study showed that the control of airway hypersecretion would be useful for preventing and treating bronchial asthma, especially in infants.
