RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Effect of cold air on mucin secretion in the nasal mucosa in asthmatics JF European Respiratory Journal JO Eur Respir J FD European Respiratory Society SP P3839 VO 44 IS Suppl 58 A1 Eduard V. Nekrasov A1 Juliy M. Perelman A1 Anna G. Prikhodko A1 Ella V. Zakharova A1 Galina A. Makarova A1 Victor P. Kolosov YR 2014 UL http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P3839.abstract AB Background: Mucus hypersecretion is one of the causes of airway obstruction in asthmatics. While mucin MUC5B is constitutively produced in the lower airways with low change, MUC5AC is abundantly increased in asthma. The unified model considers upper and lower airways as a single morphofunctional entity and predicts potentially similar responses of their mucosas to an asthma trigger.Aim: Assessment of mucin secretion by nasal mucosa in asthmatics with varying bronchial hyperresponsiveness to cold air.Methods: Sixteen patients with different degrees of asthma control, severity, airway reactivity to cold air (mean ΔFEV1 =-21.7±5.7% after 3-min isocapnic hyperventilation with cold air), and without changes in lung function (mean FEV1=91.7±3.8%) were tested for mucin secretion by nasal mucosa. Mucin secretion was estimated as changes in total carbohydrate content (by the phenol-sulphuric acid method) and MUC5AC and MUC5B (by ELISA) in the nasal lavage fluid before and after the cold air challenge through the nose.Results: Thirteen subjects exhibited an increase in the carbohydrate level in the first minutes after the exposure to cold air with a subsequent decrease to about the initial level during 30 min. In opposite, there was a reduction of MUC5AC and MUC5B in the lavage fluids after the exposure.Only five patients had a higher content of MUC5AC after the challenge, and four of them exhibited a slight increase in MUC5B also. There was a correlation between the initial concentration of MUC5B in the lavage fluid and airway response to cold air measured as ΔFEV1 (r=-0.56, p<0.05).Conclusion: Nasal mucosa is a promising model for studying mucin secretion in the development of bronchial hyperreactivity to cold air.