Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Vol 150, No. 6, 12 1994, 1702-1704.
Bronchodilator effect of inhaled nitric oxide in healthy men [published erratum appears in Am J Respir Crit Care Med 1995 Mar;151(3 Pt 1):927]
A Sanna, A Kurtansky, C Veriter and D Stanescu
Pulmonary Laboratory and Division, Cliniques Universitaires Saint Luc, Brussels, Belgium.
Studies in animals have shown that inhalation of nitric oxide (NO) either
reduced pulmonary resistance after an induced bronchospasm or protected
animals from bronchoconstriction. To evaluate whether NO inhalation (80
parts per million) influences basal bronchial tone or reverses
methacholine-induced bronchospasm, we determined specific airway
conductance (SGaw) as a measure of airway caliber in seven healthy men.
After methacholine-induced bronchoconstriction NO increased SGaw by 23% (p
< 0.05). One week later, NO inhalation did not change baseline SGaw
values. However, albuterol inhaled after NO, or on a separate day,
significantly increased SGaw (p < 0.05). The bronchodilator effect of NO
in men with methacholine-induced bronchospasm is much less than that
reported in animals or that regularly observed in asthmatic patients after
the inhalation of beta- sympathomimetic drugs.
