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Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, University of South Alabama, Mobile, Alabama 36688
Furosemide attenuates airway obstruction
in asthmatic subjects when administered as an aerosol
pretreatment. This protective effect of furosemide could be
related to relaxation of bronchial smooth muscle or to increased
bronchial blood flow. To determine whether furosemide dilates bronchial
smooth muscle, isometric contractile responses in distal bronchi from
young pigs were studied. In bronchial smooth muscle rings that were
precontracted with 10
5 M acetylcholine, significant
relaxation occurred with 10
8 to 3 × 10
6 M isoproterenol but not with 10
8 to
10
3 M furosemide. In contrast, bronchial arteries that
were precontracted with either 10
4 M norepinephrine or
10
8 M vasopressin significantly relaxed in response to
10
4 to 3 × 10
3 M and
10
3 to 3 × 10
3 M furosemide,
respectively. We conclude that furosemide, under the described
experimental conditions, relaxes airway vascular smooth muscle but not
bronchial smooth muscle. These results are consistent with previous
suggestions that inhaled furosemide increases blood flow to airway
tissues (Gilbert IA, Lenner KA, Nelson JA, Wolin AD, and Fouke JM.
J Appl Physiol 76: 409-415, 1994).
asthma; acetylcholine; isoproterenol; norepinephrine; vasopressin
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