To the Editors:
We read with great interest the paper by Freund-Michel et al. 1 in a recent issue of the European Respiratory Journal, because the results are inconsistent with the medical common sense that β2-agonists do not have common antitussive property.
The authors showed that a β2-agonist, terbutaline (0–3 mg·kg−1), dose-dependently inhibited 10−4 M capsaicin-induced cough in conscious guinea pigs. Terbutaline also blocked sensory nerve activation. They concluded that β2-agonists are antitussive and directly inhibit sensory nerve activation.
We have shown that the number of 10−4 M capsaicin-induced coughs was extremely increased 24 h after …