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Low lung volume alters contractile properties of airway smooth muscle in sheep

¹ Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, Royal North Shore Hospital Campus, ² School of Paediatrics and Child Health, ³ Dept of Pharmacology and ⁴ Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sydney, Sydney, ⁵ Dept of Respiratory Medicine, The Children's Hospital, Westmead, Australia

CORRESPONDENCE: N. Berend, Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, Royal North Shore Hospital Campus, Sydney, New South Wales 2065, Australia. Fax: 61 299066931. E-mail: nberend@med.usyd.edu.au

Keywords: airway smooth muscle, lung volume, myosin light chain kinase

Received: October 30, 2002
Accepted February 5, 2003

This study was supported by the Asthma Foundation of New South Wales, St Leonards, NSW, Australia and the National Health and Medical Research Council, Canberra, ACT, Australia.

Breathing at volumes lower than functional residual capacity (FRC) can induce changes in nonasthmatic airways consistent with the behaviour of asthmatic airways. This study investigated the chronic effect of breathing at volumes lower than FRC on the contractility of airway smooth muscle and myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) content and activity.

Sheep of three age groups (neonate, adolescent and adult) had their FRC reduced by 25% for 4 weeks using a leather corset. Contractile responses to carbachol were then recorded in isolated tracheal strips and bronchial rings. MLCK content and activity were assessed by immunoblotting.

The rate of stress generation increased in the bronchial smooth muscle of both adult and adolescent but not neonatal corseted sheep: adolescent corseted versus control, 65.0±4.1 versus 103.4±7.0 s (to reach 50% maximum stress), respectively; and adult corseted versus control, 57.0±6.4 versus 93.4±8.2 s, respectively. This was not due to increases in either bronchial or tracheal smooth muscle amount or MLCK content and activity.

The present results indicate that chronic breathing at low lung volumes increases the rate of stress generation in airway smooth muscle.

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