Abstract

The main driving mechanism during an asthma attack is the hyperconstriction of airway smooth muscle (ASM), which reduces the airway lumen and makes normal breathing difficult. The contraction can be relieved by using bronchodilator drugs such as Isoproterenol (ISO). This paper hypothesizes that superimposed length oscillations (SILO) may improve drug therapy when combined with ISO or used alone in asthmatic subjects. The aim of this study is to assess SILO patterns directly onto the airways of healthy and asthmatic subjects (mice), while they are under anaesthesia breathing spontaneously and pre-constricted (mimicking and asthmatic attack), and compared the response with the relaxation observed just with ISO.