title: Mechanical Stimulation by Postnasal Drip Evokes Cough.
abstract: Cough affects all individuals at different times, and its economic burden is substantial. Despite these widespread adverse effects, cough research relies on animal models, which hampers our understanding of the fundamental cause of cough. Postnasal drip is speculated to be one of the most frequent causes of chronic cough; however, this is a matter of debate. Here we show that mechanical stimuli by postnasal drip cause chronic cough. We distinguished human cough from sneezes and expiration reflexes by airflow patterns. Cough and sneeze exhibited one-peak and two-peak patterns, respectively, in expiratory airflow, which were also confirmed by animal models of cough and sneeze. Transgenic mice with ciliary dyskinesia coughed substantially and showed postnasal drip in the pharynx; furthermore, their cough was completely inhibited by nasal airway blockade of postnasal drip. We successfully reproduced cough observed in these mice by injecting artificial postnasal drip in wild-type mice. These results demonstrated that mechanical stimulation by postnasal drip evoked cough. The findings of our study can therefore be used to develop new antitussive drugs that prevent the root cause of cough.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshiyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iwata
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Isao
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.|Department of Medical Oncology and Immunology, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagoya, Japan.
authors.forename: Akio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Niimi
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ikegami
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Marumo
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Naoya
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tanabe
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakaji
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kanemitsu
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Hisako
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathophysiology and Therapeutics, Hoshi University School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Junzo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kamei
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
authors.forename: Mitsutoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Setou
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Michiaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mishima
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000996:Antitussive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003371:Cough / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007830:Larynx / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055595:Mechanical Phenomena; D051379:Mice; D009297:Nasal Mucosa / Q000503:physiopathology; D012119:Respiration; D012912:Sneezing / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D000996:Antitussive Agents