Effects And Mechanisms Of Action Of Vams And Vam3 On Chronic Airway Inflammation

Asthma is a chronic, inflammatory disease of the airways affecting approximately 8% of the world's population. The disease is characterized by airway inflammation, increased mucus production, intermittent airway obstruction and hyper-responsiveness. There are rising trends in asthma prevalence and severity, with accompanying increases in morbidity and mortality, especially among young children. Despite decades of research the therapy of this pathological condition has remained essentially unchanged. In recent years, only few new drugs were proposed for the treatment of asthma, such as leukotriene receptor antagonists, anti-immunoglobulin E antibodies, and phosphodiesterase inhibitors. There is still a compelling need for anti-asthma drug with high effectiveness and low side effects.Vams is an alcoholic extract of Vitis amurensis. Vitis amurensis Rupr., belonging to a family of Vitaceae, grows in northeast and central parts of China, whose roots and stems are used as Chinese folk medicine for many years. Vams is mainly composed of Vam3, Vam4 and Vam21. Vam3 and Vam4 are compounds with new structures different from other antagonists of CysLTRs. A synthetic route of Vam3 has been achieved according to its biogenetic pathway, which provided enough Vam3 for testing its anti-inflammatory effects. The purpose of the present study was to explore effects and mechanisms of action Vams and Vam3 on anti-chronic airway inflammation.1. Effects of Vams on asthmatic and allergic animal models1.1 Anti-asthmatic effects of Vams1.1.1 Vams, orally administered at the doses of 200, 120 and 80 mg/kg for 5 days,...