CONTRIBUTIONS OF PERIPHERAL / CENTRAL AIRWAYS TO AIRFLOW OBSTRUCTION IN ASTHMA

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Asthma is a chronic disease afflicting millions of people worldwide. The morbidity and mortality assocaited with asthma have increased over the past two decades. One of the most debilitating and classic features of asthma, airway hyperresponsiveness, results from excessive airway narrowing and concomitant airflow obstruction. To better understand the mechanisms underlying airway hyperresponsiveness in humans it is important to determine the respective contributions of peripheral and central airways to airflow obstruction in animal models of the disease. Currently, airway responsiveness is assessed by measuring whole lung resistance and/or compliance. Thus, there is no direct technique by which changes in resistance or compliance of peripheral vs central airways can be determined. These imaging studies would quantitate the contribution of peripheral airways to airflow obstruction in a mouse model of asthma.