ACTA FAC. MED. NAISS. 2005; 22 (2):97-100

  Review article

   AIRWAY SMOOTH MUSCLE IN ASTHMAH
 

Ivana Stanković, Tatjana Pejčić, Milan Rančić, Lidija Ristić

Clinic for Lung Diseases and tbc, Knez Selo,
Clinical Center, Niš, Serbia and Montenegro

    SUMMARY
   
   Asthma is a disease characterized, in part, by reversible airflow obstruction, hyperresponsiveness and inflammation. Traditional concepts concerning airway inflammation have focused on the effects of inflammatory mediators, cytokines and chemokines secreted by these cells. Airway smooth muscle, the major effector cell responsible for bronchomotor tone has been viewed as a passive tissue responding to neurohumoral control and inflammatory mediators. New evidence, however, suggests that airway smooth muscle may secrete cytokines and chemokines and express cell adhesion molecules that are important in modulating submucosal airway inflammation.

    Key words: asthma, inflammation, bronchoconstriction, smooth muscle