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Study discovers the mechanism of bronchial spasms

Andre Levchenko | Via Yale University | April 2, 2019

A new study by researchers at Yale and Johns Hopkins University has discovered how asthmatic bronchial spasms — muscle contractions in the airway that cause difficulty breathing in asthma patients— occur by creating a microdevice that mimics the behavior of the human respiratory airways.

Led by Andre Levchenko, professor of biomedical engineering, and Johns Hopkins postdoctoral fellow Onur Kilic, the team investigated the mechanism by which the smooth muscle surrounding bronchial airways — the network of tubes that deliver oxygen to the lungs — suddenly contract and cause bronchial spasms. During bronchial spasms, sudden contractions of the smooth muscles result in decreased airflow, not only in asthma patients but also in healthy people… Continue reading.

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