Airway smooth muscle in airway reactivity and remodeling: what have we learned?

Airway smooth muscle in airway reactivity and remodeling: what have we learned?

It is now established that airway smooth muscle (ASM) has roles in determining airway structure and function, well beyond that as the major contractile element. Indeed, changes in ASM function are central to the manifestation of allergic, inflammatory, and fibrotic airway diseases in both children and adults, as well as to airway responses to local and environmental exposures. Emerging evidence...

Groningen Plasticity of airway smooth muscle phenotype in airway remodeling

Airway structural components drive airway smooth muscle remodeling in asthma.

Chronic asthma is an inflammatory airways disease characterized by pathological changes in the airway smooth muscle (ASM) bundle that contribute to airway obstruction and hyperresponsiveness. Remodeling of the ASM is associated with an increased smooth muscle mass, involving components of cellular hypertrophy and hyperplasia, and changes in the phenotype of the muscle that facilitate proliferat...

Airway smooth muscle stretch and airway hyperresponsiveness in asthma: have we chased the wrong horse?

WHY DO HUMANS WITH ASTHMA have hyperresponsive airways? About 20 years ago, a delightfully simple hypothesized mechanism emerged that lack of stretch on the airway smooth muscle (ASM) can be causal to hyperresponsive airways as it occurs in asthma. On the face of it, this mechanism seemed to bridge the gap between two ends of biological length scales associated with hyperreactivity: the ASM and...

Commentaries on Viewpoint: Airway smooth muscle and airway hyperresponsiveness in human asthma: have we chased the wrong horse?

TO THE EDITOR: The Viewpoint by Professor Lutchen is timely and appropriate (3). There is now uncertainty as to the importance of airway smooth muscle (ASM) dynamics to normal airway function and whether disruption in the airway-lung dynamic environment contributes to airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR). Seemingly negative findings in airways in vitro, in which simulated tidal breathing failed to ...