Therapeutic Aerosols and Their Targets

Bronchodilators smooth muscle cells and P-adrenergic/cholineigic receptors Steroidal anti-inflammatory drags eosinophils and glucocorticoid receptors Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drags eosinophils and mast cells Histamine H, and H3 receptors 

Methacholine smooth muscle cells and muscarinic (M3) receptors Drags intended for systemic delivery the alveolar region 

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During autopsy, Hossain et al. detennined the amount of smooth muscle in the airway walls of patients who died of asthma. She then compared her findings to the amount of smooth muscle found in the airways of healthy controls. She found that the amount of smooth muscle decreased from the larger airways toward the lung periphery in the controls. In the asthmatics, there was an increase in the amount of smooth muscle in all airways compared to the controls and less of a decrease in the amount of muscle toward the lung periphery (20). 

Another group of researchers found that patients with asthma can be subdivided into two types based on the amount of muscle present in the airways at autopsy. Their data are presented in Table 5. Lungs were selected from patients with or without bronchial asthma. Type 1 patients showed an increase in the amount of muscle in the larger airways, whereas type 2 patients demonstrated an increase in the amount of muscle in large and smaller airways (21). 

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