I. Yamawaki et al., INHALED CROMOGLYCATE REDUCES AIRWAY NEUROGENIC INFLAMMATION VIA TACHYKININ ANTAGONISM, Research communications in molecular pathology and pharmacology, 98(3), 1997, pp. 265-272
To determine whether sodium cromoglycate (SCG) inhibits airway neuroge
nic inflammation and, if so, to elucidate the mechanism of its action,
we studied plasma extravasation evoked by hypertonic saline in the ra
t trachea by measuring the amount of extravasated Evans blue dye. Inha
lation of hypertonic saline (5-15% NaCl) produced midrovascular leakag
e, an effect that was reduced by pretreatment with SCG in a dose-depen
dent manner. Inhaled SCG (10 mg/ml) for 2 min did not affect the basal
vascular permeability, but significantly inhibited the 10% NaCl-induc
ed plasma extravasation by 34%. SCG likewise inhibited the responses o
f microvascular leakage to substance P aerosols, whereas it was withou
t effect on those to platelet activating factor aerosols. These result
s suggest that SCG inhibits airway neurogenic inflammation presumably
via functional antagonism of tachykinins, and that this novel effect m
ay be involved in the therapeutic efficacy of SCG in the treatment of
airway inflammatory diseases including asthma.