Describe the mechanisms of action of drug groups commonly used to treat acute severe asthma.
Common drugs listed were
• Beta 2 agonists salbutamol and adrenaline
• Steroids
• Magnesium
• Phosphodiesterase inhibitors
In order to obtain marks for that class of drug the mechanism of action had to be described
e.g. for theophylline; acts as a bronchodilator by inhibiting the breakdown of cyclic AMP and
cyclic GMP.
There were several excellent answers to this question.
Mechanism of action | Examples |
β-agonists (Waldeck, 2002) | |
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Antimuscarinic agents (Soler & Ramsdell, 2014) | |
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Corticosteroids (PJ Barnes, 1996) | |
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Methylxanthines (Tilley, 2011) | |
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Magnesium sulphate (Noppen, 1990; Irazuzta et al, 2017) | |
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Ketamine (Goyal & Agrawal, 2013; Sato et al, 1998) | |
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Volatile anaesthetics (Mondoñedo et al, 2015; Yamakage, 2002) | |
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Helium-oxygen mixtures | |
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Zdanowicz, Martin M. "Pharmacotherapy of asthma." American journal of pharmaceutical education 71.5 (2007).
Waldeck, Bertil. "β-Adrenoceptor agonists and asthma—100 years of development." European journal of pharmacology 445.1-2 (2002): 1-12.
Soler, Xavier, and Joe Ramsdell. "Anticholinergics/antimuscarinic drugs in asthma." Current allergy and asthma reports 14.12 (2014): 484.
Barnes, Peter J. "Molecular mechanisms of steroid action in asthma." Journal of allergy and clinical immunology 97.1 (1996): 159-168.
Tilley, Stephen L. "Methylxanthines in asthma." Methylxanthines. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2011. 439-456.
Noppen, Marc, et al. "Bronchodilating effect of intravenous magnesium sulfate in acute severe bronchial asthma." Chest 97.2 (1990): 373-376.
Irazuzta, Jose Enrique, and Nicolas Chiriboga. "Magnesium sulfate infusion for acute asthma in the emergency department." Jornal de pediatria 93 (2017): 19-25.
Goyal, Shweta, and Amit Agrawal. "Ketamine in status asthmaticus: a review." Indian journal of critical care medicine: peer-reviewed, official publication of Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine 17.3 (2013): 154.
Sato, Tetsumi, et al. "The role of the N-methyl-D-aspartic acid receptor in the relaxant effect of ketamine on tracheal smooth muscle." Anesthesia & Analgesia 87.6 (1998): 1383-1388.
Khan, Khurram Saleem, Ivan Hayes, and Donal J. Buggy. "Pharmacology of anaesthetic agents II: inhalation anaesthetic agents." Continuing Education in Anaesthesia, Critical Care & Pain 14.3 (2014): 106-111.
Mondoñedo, Jarred R., et al. "Volatile anesthetics and the treatment of severe bronchospasm: a concept of targeted delivery." Drug Discovery Today: Disease Models 15 (2015): 43-50.
Yamakage, M. "Editorial II: Effects of anaesthetic agents on airway smooth muscles." (2002): 624-627.