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Previous Volume 351:531-532 August 5, 2004 Number 6 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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Airway smooth-muscle mass is increased in patients with asthma. This increase in muscle mass is quite marked in lung sections from patients who have died of asthma, but bronchial-biopsy studies indicate that even persons with mild-to-moderate asthma have increased airway smooth-muscle mass. Both hypertrophy and hyperplasia appear to contribute to this increase, and it is possible that airway smooth-muscle hyperplasia in asthma stems from the inflammatory milieu surrounding the asthmatic muscle. There are numerous smooth-muscle growth factors present in the asthmatic airway. Indeed, in culture, serum or bronchoalveolar-lavage fluid from patients with asthma causes greater proliferation of human airway smooth-muscle . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Source Information

From the Physiology Program, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston.

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