Reflex regulation of airway smooth muscle tone

2006 ◽  
Vol 101 (3) ◽  
pp. 971-985 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brendan J. Canning
Keyword(s):  
Smooth Muscle ◽  
Airway Smooth Muscle ◽  
Muscle Tone ◽  
Mammalian Species ◽  
Autonomic Nerve ◽  
Autonomic Nerves ◽  
Parasympathetic Nerves ◽  
Afferent Nerves ◽  
Airway Caliber ◽  
Efferent Pathways

Autonomic nerves in most mammalian species mediate both contractions and relaxations of airway smooth muscle. Cholinergic-parasympathetic nerves mediate contractions, whereas adrenergic-sympathetic and/or noncholinergic parasympathetic nerves mediate relaxations. Sympathetic-adrenergic innervation of human airway smooth muscle is sparse or nonexistent based on histological analyses and plays little or no role in regulating airway caliber. Rather, in humans and in many other species, postganglionic noncholinergic parasympathetic nerves provide the only relaxant innervation of airway smooth muscle. These noncholinergic nerves are anatomically and physiologically distinct from the postganglionic cholinergic parasympathetic nerves and differentially regulated by reflexes. Although bronchopulmonary vagal afferent nerves provide the primary afferent input regulating airway autonomic nerve activity, extrapulmonary afferent nerves, both vagal and nonvagal, can also reflexively regulate autonomic tone in airway smooth muscle. Reflexes result in either an enhanced activity in one or more of the autonomic efferent pathways, or a withdrawal of baseline cholinergic tone. These parallel excitatory and inhibitory afferent and efferent pathways add complexity to autonomic control of airway caliber. Dysfunction or dysregulation of these afferent and efferent nerves likely contributes to the pathogenesis of obstructive airways diseases and may account for the pulmonary symptoms associated with extrapulmonary disorders, including gastroesophageal reflux disease, cardiovascular disease, and rhinosinusitis.

Invited Review: Complexity of factors modulating airway narrowing in vivo: relevance to assessment of airway hyperresponsiveness

2003 ◽  
Vol 95 (3) ◽  
pp. 1305-1313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vito Brusasco ◽  
Riccardo Pellegrino
Keyword(s):  
Smooth Muscle ◽  
Airway Smooth Muscle ◽  
Muscle Activation ◽  
Muscle Tone ◽  
Clinical Settings ◽  
Airway Narrowing ◽  
Geometric Factors ◽  
Airway Caliber ◽  
Airway Response

In vivo, the airway response to constrictor stimuli is the net result of a complex array of factors, some facilitating and some opposing airway narrowing, which makes the interpretation of bronchial challenges far from being straightforward. This review begins with a short description of the complex mechanisms of airway smooth muscle activation and force generation as the starting events for airway narrowing. It then focuses on gain factors modulating airway smooth muscle shortening and on the geometric factors determining the magnitude of reduction in airway caliber in vivo. Finally, in light of the evidence that mechanical modulation of airway smooth muscle tone and airway narrowing is at least as important as the inflammatory contractile mediators in the pathogenesis of airway hyper-responsiveness, the implications for the interpretation of bronchial challenges in clinical settings are discussed.

Airway distensibility and volume recruitment with lung inflation in COPD

2010 ◽  
Vol 109 (4) ◽  
pp. 1019-1026 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simonetta Baldi ◽  
Raffaele Dellacà ◽  
Leonardo Govoni ◽  
Roberto Torchio ◽  
Andrea Aliverti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Smooth Muscle ◽  
Airway Smooth Muscle ◽  
Lung Volume ◽  
Muscle Tone ◽  
Forced Expiratory Volume ◽  
Chronic Obstructive ◽  
High Resolution Computed Tomography ◽  
Lung Inflation ◽  
Control Subjects ◽  
Airway Caliber

The effects of full lung inflation on respiratory conductance (Grs) and reactance (Xrs) were measured in 15 subjects with moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and 11 matched healthy control subjects. Airway distensibility was estimated from the ratio of the difference of Grs between functional residual capacity and total lung capacity to the relevant changes in lung volume (ΔGrs/ΔVl) or transpulmonary pressure (ΔGrs/ΔPtp). Similar analysis was applied to Xrs to estimate lung volume recruitment (ΔXrs/ΔVl or ΔXrs/ΔPtp). The extent of emphysema in COPD subjects was estimated from the percentage of low attenuation area (LAA) at high-resolution computed tomography. At baseline, ΔGrs/ΔVl and ΔXrs/ΔVl were significantly less in COPD than control subjects, indicating less distensibility and volume recruitment in the former. In COPD, ΔGrs/ΔPtp and ΔXrs/ΔPtp were uncorrelated with LAA but correlated with 1-s forced expiratory volume and with each other. After albuterol, both ΔGrs/ΔPtp and ΔGrs/ΔVl became significantly and negatively correlated with LAA, while ΔXrs/ΔPtp and ΔXrs/ΔVl decreased significantly independently of LAA. Moreover, ΔGrs/ΔPtp and ΔXrs/ΔPtp with lung inflation were no longer correlated with each other, suggesting that airway distensibility and volume recruitment were affected differently by airway smooth muscle tone. Assuming that Grs mainly reflects airway caliber and Xrs the number of ventilated lung units, we conclude that airway smooth muscle contributes to airway stiffness and ventilation inhomogeneities in COPD subjects with prevailing bronchitis but only to the latter in those with more emphysema. We suggest that changes of airway distensibility and volume recruitment with a bronchodilator may be useful for disease phenotyping.

Inhibition of dihydropyridine-sensitive calcium entry in hypoxic relaxation of airway smooth muscle

1995 ◽  
Vol 268 (2) ◽  
pp. L201-L206 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Vannier ◽  
T. L. Croxton ◽  
L. S. Farley ◽  
C. A. Hirshman
Keyword(s):  
Smooth Muscle ◽  
Airway Smooth Muscle ◽  
Muscle Tone ◽  
Bay K 8644 ◽  
O2 Concentration ◽  
Voltage Dependent ◽  
Progressive Hypoxia ◽  
Carbamyl Choline

Hypoxia dilates airways in vivo and reduces active tension of airway smooth muscle in vitro. To determine whether hypoxia impairs Ca2+ entry through voltage-dependent channels (VDC), we tested the ability of dihydropyridines to modulate hypoxia-induced relaxation of KCl- and carbamyl choline (carbachol)-contracted porcine bronchi. Carbachol- or KCl-contracted bronchial rings were exposed to progressive hypoxia in the presence or absence of 1 microM BAY K 8644 (an L-type-channel agonist). In separate experiments, rings were contracted with carbachol or KCl, treated with nifedipine (a VDC antagonist), and finally exposed to hypoxia. BAY K 8644 prevented hypoxia-induced relaxation in KCl-contracted bronchi. Nifedipine (10(-5) M) totally relaxed KCl- contracted bronchi. Carbachol-contracted bronchi were only partially relaxed by nifedipine but were completely relaxed when the O2 concentration of the gas was reduced from 95 to 0%. These data indicate that hypoxia can reduce airway smooth muscle tone by limiting entry of Ca2+ through a dihydropyridine-sensitive pathway, but that other mechanisms also contribute to hypoxia-induced relaxation of carbachol-contracted bronchi.

ATP stimulates Ca2+oscillations and contraction in airway smooth muscle cells of mouse lung slices

2002 ◽  
Vol 283 (6) ◽  
pp. L1271-L1279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albrecht Bergner ◽  
Michael J. Sanderson
Keyword(s):  
Smooth Muscle ◽  
Smooth Muscle Cells ◽  
Phospholipase C ◽  
Airway Smooth Muscle ◽  
Muscle Cells ◽  
Mouse Lung ◽  
Airway Smooth Muscle Cells ◽  
Airway Caliber ◽  
Inositol 1,4,5 Trisphosphate ◽  
Trisphosphate Receptor

In airway smooth muscle cells (SMCs) from mouse lung slices, ≥10 μM ATP induced Ca2+oscillations that were accompanied by airway contraction. After ∼1 min, the Ca2+oscillations subsided and the airway relaxed. By contrast, ≥0.5 μM adenosine 5′- O-(3-thiotriphosphate) (nonhydrolyzable) induced Ca2+oscillations in the SMCs and an associated airway contraction that persisted for >2 min. Adenosine 5′- O-(3-thiotriphosphate)-induced Ca2+oscillations occurred in the absence of external Ca2+but were abolished by the phospholipase C inhibitor U-73122 and the inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor inhibitor xestospongin. Adenosine, AMP, and α,β-methylene ATP had no effect on airway caliber, and the magnitude of the contractile response induced by a variety of nucleotides could be ranked in the following order: ATP = UTP > ADP. These results suggest that the SMC response to ATP is impaired by ATP hydrolysis and mediated via P2Y2or P2Y4receptors, activating phospholipase C to release Ca2+via the inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor. We conclude that ATP can serve as a spasmogen of airway SMCs and that Ca2+oscillations in SMCs are required to sustain airway contraction.

Airway smooth muscle tone modulates mechanically induced cytoskeletal stiffening and remodeling

2005 ◽  
Vol 99 (2) ◽  
pp. 634-641 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linhong Deng ◽  
Nigel J. Fairbank ◽  
Darren J. Cole ◽  
Jeffrey J. Fredberg ◽  
Geoffrey N. Maksym
Keyword(s):  
Smooth Muscle ◽  
Mechanical Stress ◽  
Applied Stress ◽  
Airway Smooth Muscle ◽  
Cell Activation ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Muscle Tone ◽  
Residual Effects ◽  
Cell Stiffness ◽  
Functional Changes

The application of mechanical stresses to the airway smooth muscle (ASM) cell causes time-dependent cytoskeletal stiffening and remodeling (Deng L, Fairbank NJ, Fabry B, Smith PG, and Maksym GN. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 287: C440–C448, 2004). We investigated here the extent to which these behaviors are modulated by the state of cell activation (tone). Localized mechanical stress was applied to the ASM cell in culture via oscillating beads (4.5 μm) that were tightly bound to the actin cytoskeleton (CSK). Tone was reduced from baseline level using a panel of relaxant agonists (10−3 M dibutyryl cAMP, 10−4 M forskolin, or 10−6 M formoterol). To assess functional changes, we measured cell stiffness (G′) using optical magnetic twisting cytometry, and to assess structural changes of the CSK we measured actin accumulation in the neighborhood of the bead. Applied mechanical stress caused a twofold increase in G′ at 120 min. After cessation of applied stress, G′ diminished only 24 ± 6% (mean ± SE) at 1 h, leaving substantial residual effects that were largely irreversible. However, applied stress-induced stiffening could be prevented by ablation of tone. Ablation of tone also inhibited the amount of actin accumulation induced by applied mechanical stress ( P < 0.05). Thus the greater the contractile tone, the greater was applied stress-induced CSK stiffening and remodeling. As regards pathobiology of asthma, this suggests a maladaptive positive feedback in which tone potentiates ASM remodeling and stiffening that further increases stress and possibly leads to worsening airway function.

EETs relax airway smooth muscle via an EpDHF effect: BKCa channel activation and hyperpolarization

2001 ◽  
Vol 280 (5) ◽  
pp. L965-L973 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Benoit ◽  
Barbara Renaudon ◽  
Dany Salvail ◽  
Eric Rousseau
Keyword(s):  
Smooth Muscle ◽  
Airway Smooth Muscle ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Muscle Tone ◽  
Muscle Relaxation ◽  
Smooth Muscle Relaxation ◽  
Epoxyeicosatrienoic Acids ◽  
Bkca Channel ◽  
Channel Activity ◽  
Cytochrome P 450

Epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs) are produced from arachidonic acid via the cytochrome P-450 epoxygenase pathway. EETs are able to modulate smooth muscle tone by increasing K+ conductance, hence generating hyperpolarization of the tissues. However, the molecular mechanisms by which EETs induce smooth muscle relaxation are not fully understood. In the present study, the effects of EETs on airway smooth muscle (ASM) were investigated using three electrophysiological techniques. 8,9-EET and 14,15-EET induced concentration-dependent relaxations of the ASM precontracted with a muscarinc agonist (carbamylcholine chloride), and these relaxations were partly inhibited by 10 nM iberiotoxin (IbTX), a specific large-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ (BKCa) channel blocker. Moreover, 3 μM 8,9- or 14,15-EET induced hyperpolarizations of −12 ± 3.5 and −16 ± 3 mV, with EC50 values of 0.13 and 0.14 μM, respectively, which were either reversed or blocked on addition of 10 nM IbTX. These results indicate that BKCa channels are involved in hyperpolarization and participate in the relaxation of ASM. In addition, complementary experiments demonstrated that 8,9- and 14,15-EET activate reconstituted BKCa channels at low free Ca2+ concentrations without affecting their unitary conductance. These increases in channel activity were IbTX sensitive and correlated well with the IbTX-sensitive hyperpolarization and relaxation of ASM. Together these results support the view that, in ASM, the EETs act through an epithelium-derived hyperpolarizing factorlike effect.

A GABAergic inhibitory microcircuit controlling cholinergic outflow to the airways

2004 ◽  
Vol 96 (1) ◽  
pp. 260-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Constance T. Moore ◽  
Christopher G. Wilson ◽  
Catherine A. Mayer ◽  
Sandra S. Acquah ◽  
V. John Massari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Smooth Muscle ◽  
Airway Smooth Muscle ◽  
Muscle Tone ◽  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Nucleus Ambiguus ◽  
Acid Decarboxylase ◽  
Electron Microscopic ◽  
Synaptic Contacts ◽  
Smooth Muscle Tone ◽  
Rostral Nucleus

GABA is the main inhibitory neurotransmitter that participates in the regulation of cholinergic outflow to the airways. We have tested the hypothesis that a monosynaptic GABAergic circuit modulates the output of airway-related vagal preganglionic neurons (AVPNs) in the rostral nucleus ambiguus by using a dual-labeling electron microscopic method combining immunocytochemistry for glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) with retrograde tracing from the trachea. We also determined the effects of blockade of GABAA receptors on airway smooth muscle tone. The results showed that retrogradely labeled AVPNs received a significant GAD-immunoreactive (GAD-IR) terminal input. Out of a pooled total of 3,161 synaptic contacts with retrogradely labeled somatic and dendritic profiles, 20.2% were GAD-IR. GAD-IR terminals formed significantly more axosomatic synapses than axodendritic synapses ( P < 0.02). A dense population of GABAergic synaptic contacts on AVPNs provides a morphological basis for potent physiological effects of GABA on the excitability of AVPNs. GAD-IR terminals formed exclusively symmetric synaptic specializations. GAD-IR terminals were significantly larger ( P < 0.05) in both length and width than unlabeled terminals synapsing on AVPNs. Therefore, the structural characteristics of certain nerve terminals may be closely correlated with their function. Pharmacological blockade of GABAA receptors within the rostral nucleus ambiguus increased activity of putative AVPNs and airway smooth muscle tone. We conclude that a tonically active monosynaptic GABAergic circuit utilizing symmetric synapses regulates the discharge of AVPNs.

Maturation of respiratory reflex responses in the piglet

1991 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 608-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Haxhiu-Poskurica ◽  
W. A. Carlo ◽  
M. J. Miller ◽  
J. M. DiFiore ◽  
M. A. Haxhiu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Smooth Muscle ◽  
Airway Smooth Muscle ◽  
Phrenic Nerve ◽  
Muscle Tone ◽  
Muscle Tension ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Force Transducer ◽  
Reflex Responses ◽  
C Fiber ◽  
Lung Deflation

Stimulation of chemo-, irritant, and pulmonary C-fiber receptors reflexly constricts airway smooth muscle and alters ventilation in mature animals. These reflex responses of airway smooth muscle have, however, not been clearly characterized during early development. In this study we compared the maturation of reflex pathways regulating airway smooth muscle tone and ventilation in anesthetized, paralyzed, and artificially ventilated 2- to 3- and 10-wk-old piglets. Tracheal smooth muscle tension was measured from an open tracheal segment by use of a force transducer, and phrenic nerve activity was measured from a proximal cut end of the phrenic nerve. Inhalation of 7% CO2 caused a transient increase in tracheal tension in both age groups, whereas hypoxia caused no airway smooth muscle response in either group. The phrenic responses to 7% CO2 and 12% O2 were comparable in both age groups. Lung deflation and capsaicin (20 micrograms/kg iv) administration did not alter tracheal tension in the younger piglets but caused tracheal tension to increase by 87 +/- 28 and 31 +/- 10%, respectively, in the older animals (both P less than 0.05). In contrast, phrenic response to both stimuli was comparable between ages: deflation increased phrenic activity while capsaicin induced neural apnea. Laryngeal stimulation did not increase tracheal tension but induced neural apnea in both age groups. These data demonstrate that between 2 and 10 wk of life, piglets exhibit developmental changes in the reflex responses of airway smooth muscle situated in the larger airways in response to irritant and C-fiber but not chemoreceptor stimulation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Nicotine-induced respiratory effects of cigarette smoke in dogs

1985 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. J. Hartiala ◽  
C. Mapp ◽  
R. A. Mitchell ◽  
W. M. Gold
Keyword(s):  
Smooth Muscle ◽  
Cigarette Smoke ◽  
Airway Smooth Muscle ◽  
Direct Effect ◽  
Muscle Tone ◽  
Muscle Tension ◽  
Respiratory Center ◽  
Parasympathetic Ganglia ◽  
Arterial Blood ◽  
Nicotine Receptors

We report that nicotine is responsible for both a blood-borne stimulation of the respiratory center and a direct effect on intrathoracic airway tone in dogs. We introduced cigarette smoke into the lungs of donor dogs and injected arterial blood obtained from them into the circulation of recipient dogs to show that a blood-borne material increased breathing and airway smooth muscle tone. Smoke from cigarettes containing 2.64 mg of nicotine was effective; that from cigarettes containing 0.42 mg of nicotine was not. Nicotine, in doses comparable to the amounts absorbed from smoke, also increased breathing and tracheal smooth muscle tension when injected into the vertebral circulation of recipient dogs. Finally, blockade of nicotine receptors in the central nervous system and in the airway parasympathetic ganglia inhibited the effects of inhaled cigarette smoke and intravenous nicotine on the respiratory center and on bronchomotor tone. We conclude that nicotine absorbed from cigarette smoke is the main cause of cigarette smoke-induced bronchoconstriction. It caused central respiratory stimulation, resulting in increased breathing and airway smooth muscle tension, and had a direct effect on airway parasympathetic ganglia as well.

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