小鼠模型 z-bo 2020-11-03 474

　　A study by researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in the United States on a mouse model of asthma showed that the sensory neurons of the lungs are the key regulators of airway contraction typical of acute asthma attacks, which suggests the need to develop a neurological system It's not just asthma therapy for the immune system.

　　People suffering from asthma are suffering from chronic lung obstruction caused by excessive mucus production and acute attacks that allergens may cause airway constriction. Several symptoms caused by the immune system's response to allergens can only be partially relieved by immunosuppression.

　　In order to study this part of the nervous system, Dimitri Trönkner, Charles Zuker and colleagues studied the sensory neurons of mouse lungs in a model of acute asthma attacks caused by ovalbumin, which is an allergen found in egg protein. . The authors used chemical methods to deactivate different groups of lung sensory neurons located on the ganglion of the vagus nerve, and then observed changes in asthma symptoms.

　　Inactivation of one of the populations resulted in the overreaction and disappearance of airway contractions normally induced by exposure to ovalbumin, but did not change this immune response. In addition, stimulating the same group of neurons exacerbated the airway response. The authors say that the airway overreaction of asthma may be controlled by a nervous system that is different from the symptoms caused by the immune system, which suggests another possible way of treating asthma.