The cough reflex is a primary defensive mechanism for airway protection. Cough disorders are characterized by a change in the threshold for initiating the cough reflex. Various afferent inputs influence the onset and sensitivity of the cough reflex. The study aimed to determine and compare the cough reflex sensitivity between adults with asthma and healthy adults with no history of allergic, respiratory, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, or endocrine diseases, using European Respiratory Society guidelines on the assessment of cough. We created a group of 52 healthy volunteers (mean age 33.8 years) to serve as a control group for future research into the cough reflex in defined patient groups in upcoming clinical-physiological studies. We found that in the group of healthy volunteers, the threshold concentration of capsaicin required to elicit at least two coughs (C2) was 8.46 micromol/l, while the threshold concentration for inducing at least five coughs (C5) was 26.62 micromol/l. We then compared the reactivity of afferent nerve endings in the airways of healthy adults and adults with asthma by evaluating the differences in the concentrations of capsaicin that elicited C2 and C5 in these two groups. In a group of 19 asthmatic adults (mean age 33 years), the threshold concentration of capsaicin required to induce C2 was 2.03 micromol/l, while the threshold concentration for C5 was 3.02 micromol/l. We demonstrated a significant increase in cough reflex sensitivity in adults with asthma, expressed as the C2 capsaicin concentration (P<0.01) and the C5 concentration (P<0.001). Key words Cough " Cough reflex sensitivity " Capsaicin " Asthma.

• MeSH
• Asthma * physiopathology   diagnosis   MeSH
• Adult MeSH
• Capsaicin * administration & dosage   MeSH
• Cough * physiopathology   chemically induced   diagnosis   MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Young Adult MeSH
• Reflex * drug effects   physiology   MeSH
• Check Tag
• Adult MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Young Adult MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Capsaicin * MeSH

Human health is the main role of medical research. Scientists were always intrigued by disease prevention, their diagnostics and proper treatment. In fact, research in medicine is always directed towards the improvement of the health care and improvement of the quality of life of the target population. Nowadays, physiological research, which is the base stone for clinical research, progresses fast forward, providing new information about body functions in health and diseases. This obvious progress is associated with modern methods, such as neuronal tracing, patch-clamp methods, electrophysiology, molecular biology and many more, which supported by comprehensive information technology guarantees high quality and complex data. Our younger colleagues, young scientists, post-docs or PhD students are well-trained and qualified in utilizing these new methods.

• MeSH
• Faculty, Medical history   MeSH
• Biomedical Research history   MeSH
• History, 20th Century MeSH
• History, 21st Century MeSH
• Internationality MeSH
• Physicians history   MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Respiratory Mechanics physiology   MeSH
• Respiration Disorders history   physiopathology   MeSH
• Check Tag
• History, 20th Century MeSH
• History, 21st Century MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Publication type
• Biography MeSH
• Historical Article MeSH
• Editorial MeSH
• Geographicals
• Slovakia MeSH

• About
• Korpas, Juraj