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Erdosteine enhances airway response to salbutamol in patients with mild-to-moderate COPDLung Department, Orlandi General Hospital, Bussolengo, Verona, Italy, rdalnegro{at}ulss22.ven.it
Orlandi General Hospital, UOC Pneumologia
Orlandi General Hospital, UOC Pneumologia
Orlandi General Hospital, UOC Pneumologia
Orlandi General Hospital, UOC Pneumologia
Orlandi General Hospital, UOC Pneumologia Background: Oxidative stress is presumed to impair β-adenoceptor function and airway patency. Erdosteine (E), a mucomodulatory compound, has shown important antioxidant properties.
Methods: The objective was to assess the effect of antioxidant interventions on short-term airway response to salbutamol in non-reversible mild-to-moderate COPD patients. Thirty COPD patients (GOLD class 1—2), current smoker ( Results: E and NAC caused significant drops in ROS blood levels after four and ten days (p<0.001 and p<0.0001 vs. placebo). In contrast to NAC, E lowered 8-isoprostane levels substantially for ten days (p = 0.017 and p = 0.0004 vs. placebo, respectively). Only E restored significantly short-term reversibility in COPD patients previously unresponsive to β2-adrenergics. Conclusions: This effect seems more related to the peculiar protection against lipid peroxidation rather than to the scavenging activity, which proves equal to that of NAC. E provides a sort of indirect bronchodilation through 're-sensitisation' of β 2-adrenoceptors. Once confirmed in further controlled studies, it may be useful in long-term treatment of COPD.
Key Words: antioxidants β2-adrenoceptors COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) mucolytics lipid peroxidation reversibility test
This version was published on October
1, 2008 Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease, Vol. 2, No. 5,
271-277 (2008) |
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10 pack/year), randomly received E 300 mg, N-acetylcysteine (NAC) 600 mg, or placebo, twice daily for ten days. Reversibility to salbutamol 200 µg was tested in baseline, after four and ten days of each treatment. ROS and 8-isoprostane blood levels were measured on the same days. Between-treatment comparison was performed by ANOVA and t-test or Wilcoxon test, and p<0.05 assumed. E enhanced FEV1 reversibility after four and ten days significantly (+5.1% and +5.0%; both p<0.01 vs. placebo), while NAC only showed a transient effect at day 4 (+3.0%, p<0.05), but not at day 10 (+1.3%, p = ns).