Abstract
The airway tract is an organ prone to injury by external irritants including allergens (which may induce an allergic response), atmospheric contaminants, bacteria and viruses. All of these may damage the airway mucosa. The mechanism of such damage appears to be reaction to oxidative stress on airway mucosa. Therefore, oxidative stress is an important criterion on the onset and exacerbation of asthma. However, the airway mucosa has various anti-oxidative mechanisms capable of maintaining the stability of the intracellular oxidation-reduction (redox) state. It is speculated that the airway tracts of people with asthma are not properly able to maintain a stable redox state. Considering the effect of oxidative stress and the control of the redox state, it is important to add anti-oxidative reagents in the treatment of asthma.
