The term "mucoactive agent" refers to any medication used to improve the clearance of airway secretions. It is not synonymous with the word "mucolytic" as this strictly means a drug that decreases the viscosity of secretions. In many cases, decreased viscosity will adversely affect cough transport. For this reason many of the older mucolytic agents such as acetylcysteine are not effective for t...

The use of models estimating the dosage delivered to a lung region to help design delivery systems for new drugs is well established (e.g. Finlay et al. (1997)). This approach, also called in silico testing, however has not yet received regulatory acceptance (Forbes et al. (2011)). A far less common application of lung deposition models is in the estimation of the concentration of the inhaled d...

Excessive neutrophil elastase activity within airways of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients results in progressive lung damage. Disruption of disulfide bonds on elastase by reducing agents may modify its enzymatic activity. Three naturally occurring dithiol reducing systems were examined for their effects on elastase activity: 1) Escherichia coli thioredoxin (Trx) system, 2) recombinant human thiore...

BACKGROUND Cough-suppressant therapy, previously termed nonspecific antitussive therapy, incorporates the use of pharmacologic agents with mucolytic effects and/or inhibitory effects on the cough reflex itself. The intent of this type of therapy is to reduce the frequency and/or intensity of coughing on a short-term basis. METHODS Data for this review were obtained from several National Libra...

Necrotic enteritis (NE) is a worldwide poultry disease caused by the alpha toxin-producing bacterium Clostridium perfringens. Disease risk factors include concurrent coccidial infection and the dietary use of cereal grains high in nonstarch polysaccharides (NSP), such as wheat, barley, rye, and oats. Outbreaks of NE can be prevented or treated by the use of in-feed antibiotics. However, the cur...

airway mucus hypersecretion and increased oxidative stress are clinical and pathophysiological features of asthma exacerbation. we studied effects of n-acetylcysteine (nac) as a mucolytic and antioxidant agent in asthma exacerbation. in this randomized, single-blinded, placebo-controlled study 50 patients ( 17 male, 33 female, mean age 48.94±13.68) with asthma exacerbation were randomized to re...