A recent study from Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital endorses a new means of blocking asthma attack — tackling the lungs' specific sensory nerve endings which play a role in triggering allergic inflammation.

Researchers have discovered that by selectively numbing specialized sensory neurons, called nociceptors, both bronchial twitchiness and inflammation are diminished, PR Newswire reported.

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Nociceptors are the nerve cells that trigger the cough reflex when chemical irritants or allergens like dust particles or pollens are detected.

People with asthma are known to have more nociceptor nerve endings which explains why they are more sensitive to allergens.

"An attractive aspect of targeting nociceptors is that this approach would be most effective when inflammation is already present and should accelerate its resolution," Clifford Woolf, MD, PhD, director of the F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center at Boston Children's Hospital and a co-senior investigator on the study said.

Using mouse models, the research team led by first author Sebastian Talbot, PhD, of Boston Children's Hospital, attempted to selectively block nociceptor activity using a drug called QX-314 - chemically related to the anesthetic lidocaine.

"There was prior evidence that neurons and the immune system talk to each other," Talbot explained. "Since we have QX-314, which specifically blocks pain neurons that are activated by inflammation; we wanted to see if such interplay also occurs in asthma."

The team first exposed the mice to either dust mites or an irritant called ovalbumin. They then blocked the nociceptors by administering QX-314b through a nebulizer.

When allergens are introduced to nociceptors, the latter normally release neuropeptides — chemicals that trigger the activity and infiltration of immune cells into the lungs.

An inflammatory chemical called IL-5 produced by the immune cells then stimulates the nociceptors to generate the neuropeptide termed as vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) which ultimately creates a neuro-immune feedback cycle that causes the lungs to inflame and asthma symptoms to intensify.

However, when the nociceptors in asthmatic mice were numbed genetically or through QX-314, the subjects manifested milder airway inflammation and less bronchial spasms.

The study findings led researchers to conclude that nociceptors play a crucial role in the lungs' inflammatory immune reponses and that blocking these nerve cells interrupts the feedback cycle, alleviating bronchospasm and allergic respiratory inflammation.

Asthma is a chronic respiratory condition marked by inflammation of the airways and spasms in the bronchi of the lungs.

A recent study claims that early exposure to air pollution (as early as a baby in the womb) increases a child's risk of developing asthma, CTV News has learned.

Severe cases of asthma could be fatal especially when the brain is deprived of oxygen for a long period of time.

On June 10, Wednesday, a 7-year-old girl from Euclid was reported dead by Fox 8 after she was pulled out of life support, following a sudden severe asthma attack in her home.

Tagsasthma, Nerve cells, numbing, anesthetic, Science, Study