Asthma
Asthma represents a lasting inflammatory airway condition characterized by hyper-responsiveness of the airways accompanied by repeated episodes of breathlessness, coughing, wheezing, and chest tightness. Such episodes have commonly been linked to airflow blocks which can be spontaneously reversed or sometimes require medication. Roughly three hundred million individuals worldwide suffer from asthma. Among children, boys exhibit greater asthma risk whilst among adults, women exhibit greater prevalence. A grasp of the condition’s pathophysiology (both acute and chronic forms) will facilitate an understanding of how to diagnose and treat patients suffering from it. Experts’ asthma pathogenesis knowledge has greatly evolved during the past twenty-five years with scholars discovering several phenotypes of the condition (Lynn & Kushto-Reese, 2015).
Pathophysiology of Acute Asthma
Acute asthma intensification, or asthmatic attacks, take place through binding of inhaled antigens to mast cells performing immunoglobulin E (IgE). These cells start degranulating, thereby releasing bradykinins, prostaglandins, leukotrienes, platelet-activating factors, histamine, interleukins, and other inflammatory mediators which lead to airway muscle bronchospasms and edema owing to enhanced capillary permeability. Further, goblet cells’ enhanced mucus secretion constricts the patient’s airway. Antigens are spotted by dendritic cells and a signal is sent to the Th2 cells that secrete interleukin -4, among other things. Such interleukins stimulate IgE production by B cells. Additionally, Th2 cells may generate IL-5 that stimulates eosinophils, responsible for creating eosinophilic cationic and...
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