Towards an Understanding of the Neurophysiology of the Human Cough Reflex

咳嗽对保护我们的肺部免受伤害至关重要。然而，许多人都有一个麻烦的咳嗽，干扰他们的生活，造成问题，如尿失禁，尴尬或抑郁症。任何持续超过8周的咳嗽都被称为慢性咳嗽。不幸的是，现有的咳嗽药物往往无效。为了开发新的治疗方法，我们需要更多地了解可能导致慢性咳嗽的人体变化。咳嗽和疼痛在很多方面是相似的。就像大脑通过释放吗啡样物质来控制我们感受到的疼痛程度一样，大脑也可以控制咳嗽。这项研究将调查大脑是否不再有效地控制慢性咳嗽患者的咳嗽。我的目标是证明：（i）大脑释放吗啡样物质，控制健康人的咳嗽，但不控制慢性咳嗽的人。(ii)大脑在控制女性咳嗽方面效果较差，这解释了为什么更多的女性患上慢性咳嗽。

Coughing is essential to protect our lungs from harm. However, many people have a troublesome cough that interferes with their life by causing problems like incontinence, embarrassment or depression. Any cough lasting more than 8 weeks is known as a chronic cough. Unfortunately, existing cough medications are often ineffective. To develop new treatments we need to understand more about the changes that occur in the human body that can lead to chronic cough. Cough and pain are similar in many ways. Just as the brain has control over the amount of pain we feel by releasing morphine-like substances, the brain may also control coughing. This study will investigate whether the brain is no longer effective at controlling coughing in people with chronic cough. I aim to show that:(i) The brain releases morphine-like substances which control coughing in healthy people, but not for people with chronic cough.(ii) The brain is less effective at controlling coughing in women, explaining why more women develop a chronic cough.