HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Saetta, M. Articles by Turato, G. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Saetta, M. Articles by Turato, G.

Airway pathology in asthma

Dept of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

CORRESPONDENCE: M. Saetta, Sezione di Pneumologia, Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica e Sperimentale, Università degli Studi di Padova, Via Giustiniani 2, 35128, Padova, Italy. Fax: 39 0498213770

Keywords: airway obstruction, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, histopathology, inflammation, morphology

Received: March 22, 2001
Accepted March 26, 2001

This review focuses on the major cellular and structural changes present in the airways and lung parenchyma in asthma in comparison with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in an attempt to underline the possible mechanisms contributing to airflow limitation in these two diseases.

Both asthma and COPD are characterized by a thickening of the airway wall and by the presence of an inflammatory process, but the inflammatory cells infiltrating the airway wall differ between the two diseases.

In asthma, the most striking feature is the eosinophilic infiltration, whereas, in COPD, it is the CD8 T-lymphocytic infiltration of the airway wall. In the lung parenchyma, both diseases are characterized by an inflammatory process, whereas destruction and fibrosis of the alveolar walls occur in COPD but not in asthma.

These cellular and structural changes may contribute to the development of airflow limitation (that characterizes both asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) by inducing either an increase in resistance or a decrease in driving pressure.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. J. Muessel, K. S. Scott, P. Friedl, P. Bradding, and A. J. Wardlaw CCL11 and GM-CSF Differentially Use the Rho GTPase Pathway to Regulate Motility of Human Eosinophils in a Three-Dimensional Microenvironment J. Immunol., June 15, 2008; 180(12): 8354 - 8360. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]