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Resistance to β‐adrenoceptor stimulants (a possible explanation for the rise in asthma deaths)
Author(s) -
CONOLLY M. E.,
DAVIES D. S.,
DOLLERY C. T.,
GEORGE C. F.
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
british journal of pharmacology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.432
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1476-5381
pISSN - 0007-1188
DOI - 10.1111/j.1476-5381.1971.tb08070.x
Subject(s) - terbutaline , asthma , isoprenaline , histamine , medicine , endogeny , sympathomimetics , pharmacology , airway resistance , stimulation , anesthesia
Summary1 Resistance to isoprenaline has been produced in man and dog by prolonged exposure to the same, or the pharmacologically similar compounds, terbutaline and isoetharine. 2 In guinea‐pigs, pretreatment with these agents increases asthma mortality provoked by histamine which suggests that this resistance may reduce the effectiveness of endogenous sympathetic drive to the bronchi. 3 Possible mechanisms by which the asthma death rate could be increased are discussed. 4 It is suggested that a drug‐induced cross resistance to endogenous sympathetic stimulation could have led to a deterioration of the asthmatic state in patients using the pressurized aerosols of sympathomimetic bronchodilators and that this might account for the rise in asthma death rate.