An Inflammatory Factor Called Nerve Growth Factor

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airway that impacts a person’s and their family’s quality of life. In people with asthma, their airway becomes constricted with swelling and excessive mucous. This constriction or narrowing of the airway makes it difficult for the person with asthma to breath (Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 2009). If asthma is left uncontrolled, it leads to further wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath, tiredness, and stress. (Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 2009).

Asthma is a long-term lung disease. Those with asthma have sensitive airways in their lungs which triggers a flare up. When this flare up happens the muscle around the airways squeeze tight and the airways swell, become narrows and produce more mucus. (Anon., 2016) All these things make it harder for a person to breathe. Asthma effects the human body’s respiratory system. Asthma causes a spasm and constriction of the bronchial passages and the swelling and the inflammation of the mucous lining. The body responds by defence cells from the immune system, which causes the airways to swell and the muscles surrounding the airways to contract. Which is what cuts off the airflow. While a person is in asthma attack, the asthmatic cannot breathe which

To better understand the impact of asthma, a brief overview of the causes (aetiology) and disease progression (pathophysiology) must be shown. As common as asthma is, not much is known about its aetiology, according to findings presented by Subbaroa, Mandhane and Sears (2009, pg. 181-187) in a review from the Canadian

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the bronchial mucosa and hyperreactive bronchial tubes. Its etiology has been linked to both genetic and environmental factors. Several genes, including those that influence the production of proteins and cells involved in the immune response (such as interleukins, eosinophils, mast cells) have been linked with asthma. A decreased number of T-regulatory cells is also associated with asthma. Environmental factors linked with asthma include exposure to allergens, urban residence, and smoking (or exposure to secondary smoke). Recurrent respiratory tract viral infections may also contribute to the development of asthma. Decreased exposure to certain infectious organisms during early childhood, and the consequent underdevelopment of the immune response, can also lead to the development of asthma--this is known as the hygiene hypothesis (McCance & Huether, 2014, p. 1263-4).

The effect of asthma can range from mild, irregular symptoms causing minor problems for an individual to severe and sudden asthma attacks. The extent of what causes asthma is not well known or fully understood but some common triggers include, cold temperatures, dust mites, cockroaches, pollen, sickness, mould and animal hair. When triggered, the airways in the lungs become inflamed and constricted causing shortness of breath, chest pain and wheezing [R]. Currently, there is no cure for asthma however symptoms can be managed with medication and improved living standards [R]. Asthma symptoms are commonly controlled with the use of inhalers, either preventers (taken to desensitizes airways to triggers) or relievers (provides instant relief by relaxing the muscles) [16].

Chronic inflammation leads to structural changes, narrowing of the small airways, and destruction of lung tissue, which diminishes the ability of the airways to remain open during expiration

According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Asthma is a chronic lung disease that affects the airways, which is comprised of tubes that carry air in and out of the lungs. People who experience difficulties breathing have inflamed airways. The inflammation causes the tubes to swell and become sensitive, especially when inhaling strong substances. As a result, the airways tighten and the muscles around the tubes become swollen and narrower. In addition, cells in the airways might produce more mucus. This sticky and thick mucus makes it even more difficult for air to pass into the lungs.

The bronchi and bronchiole tubes are loosely wrapped with muscle. During regular breathing, the muscles around these airways are relaxed (5). This allows air to flow freely through these passageways to the alveoli. However, during an asthma attack, air has trouble reaching the alveoli, which prevents the body from receiving oxygen. This is because the airways become smaller. Firstly, the muscles around the airways spasm and contract. This then causes inflammation of the bronchioles and bronchi themselves, which causes a mucus to be produced.

When the respiratory tissue damaged, the body’s inflammatory responses cause the lining of the airways to become swollen and thickened as a result of constant irritation that leads to an excessive mucus secretion in effort to protect the lungs from inhaled irritants such as cigarette smoking, air pollution, passive smoking, occupational dusts and chemicals (Currie 2009).

Lung inflammation will be scored by a treatment-blind observer. The degree of peribronchial and perivascular inflammation will be evaluated on a subjective scale of 0-3, as described previously [37]. Briefly, A value of 0: no inflammation is detectable; a value of 1: occasional cuffing with inflammatory cells; a value of 2: most bronchi or vessels are surrounded by a thin layer (one to five cells thick) of inflammatory cells; a value of 3: majority of bronchi or vessels are surrounded by a thick layer (more than five cells thick) of inflammatory cells. Total lung inflammation will be defined as the average of the peribronchial and perivascular inflammation scores. Five lung sections per mouse will be scored and inflammation scores will be expressed as a mean

The bronchial constriction stage - where the smooth walls of the pulmonary airways go through bronchial hyper-responsiveness (contraction or swelling triggered by histamine, cold air, exercise, viral upper respiratory infection, cigarette smoke, respiratory allergens etc.); and the muscle around outside of the airways tighten (bronchoconstriction), making the insides of the airways narrower, reducing airflow.

Asthma is characterized by reversible airway obstruction and airway hyper-responsiveness that is associated with airway inflammation and airway remodelling. Two prominent pathological features of asthma are the increase of airway smooth muscle (ASM) mass and the deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, which contribute to the development of airway inflammation and remodelling. The deposition of increased ECM proteins such as fibronectin and collagen in ASM layer has been observed in asthma. Evidence suggests that increased ECM deposition could induce ASM phenotype switching from the contractile phenotype to the proliferative phenotype, accompanied by increased expression of cell adhesion receptors and costimulatory molecules as well

The pathophysiology of Asthma includes inflammation of the airway. The way in which this works is from an irritant which can include dust, pollen, cedar, or cat hair. When a reaction occurs, the airways become inflamed and narrow. The narrowing occurs because once the inflammatory response is triggered by an irritant, histamines, immunoglobulin E antibodies, and leukotrienes are released. Because of this, mucous production occurs. Since the bronchioles are inflamed and narrow, breathing becomes difficult. Wheezing sounds can be heard due to the lack of air being able to easily move in and out of the narrowed bronchioles.

In conclusion, not only should irritant-induced asthma be cured, but also it should be controlled and decreased thorough the world. The prevalence of irritant-induced asthma is almost great in the world and it is continuing to grow. As well as this, the type of irritants and their concentration are crucial and essential to be known. Moreover, identifying the exact mechanism IIA and its related factors as well as its epidemiology requires further investigations, especially with large populations. More research is extremely necessary in order to discover efficient prevention methods as well as improving the diagnostic method of the IIA. In addition, More investigations are essential to find an efficient and effective treatment for IIA as well

Intensive research during the last several decades has highlighted the role of lymphocytes, immunoglobulins, mast cells, and various autacoids in the etiopathogenesis of allergic conditions. Inspite of the voluminous literature on the subject, the treatment of allergic diseases continues to be far from satisfactory. The available treatment options for upper and lower respiratory tract allergic diseases have major limitations owing to low efficacy, associated adverse events, and compliance issues.[5]