Bronchoconstrictor Effects of Leukotriene E4 in Normal and Asthmatic Subjects

AB Davidson, TH Lee, PD Scanlon… - American Review of …, 1987 - atsjournals.org
AB Davidson, TH Lee, PD Scanlon, J Solway, ER McFadden Jr, RH Ingram Jr, EJ Corey
American Review of Respiratory Disease, 1987atsjournals.org
The bronchoconstrictor activity of an aerosol of leukotriene E4 (LTE4) was compared with
that of histamine in 5 normal and in 6 asthmatic subjects to define the relative potency of
LTE4 between the groups using 3 indices of airway response. The FEV1 and the flow rate
measured at 30% of vital capacity from partial and maximal expiratory maneuvers (and)
were measured. The geometric mean (GSEM) concentration of LTE4 required to reduce the
by 30% was 0.30 (1.46) mM in the normal subjects, and 0.058 (1.63) in the asthmatic …
The bronchoconstrictor activity of an aerosol of leukotriene E4(LTE4) was compared with that of histamine in 5 normal and in 6 asthmatic subjects to define the relative potency of LTE4 between the groups using 3 indices of airway response. The FEV1 and the flow rate measured at 30% of vital capacity from partial and maximal expiratory maneuvers ( and ) were measured. The geometric mean (GSEM) concentration of LTE4 required to reduce the by 30% was 0.30(1.46) mM in the normal subjects, and 0.058 (1.63) in the asthmatic subjects; LTE4 was 39-fold more potent than histamine in the former and 14-fold in the latter group. Further, we observed that when normal and asthmatic subjects were compared at a degree of bronchoconstriction resulting in a 30% decrement in the after inhaling LTE4, there was a greater response in the asthmatic group than in the normal group of the accompanying change in the FEV1. The decrements in the FEV1 were not significantly different between the 2 groups after inhaling histamine. This study demonstrates that LTE4 is a potent bronchoconstrictor agonist in humans and suggests that airway responsiveness to this agonist differs substantially with the index of bronchoconstriction used for assessment Of airway response.
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