The study of airway primary afferent neuron excitability

The activation of airway afferent neurons initiates a variety of reflexes including cough and bronchoconstriction. Like somatic afferent neurons involved in inflammation-induced hyperalgesia, the excitability of airway afferent neurons is not fixed but, rather, can be increased by the action of a variety of mediators produced during inflammation. A variety of techniques have been applied to study the pharmacological modulation of the excitability of afferent neurons. Although airway afferent neurons have not been studied to the same extent as fibers involved in hyperalgesia, similar pathways may control their excitability. The ability to study the pharmacological modulation of airway afferent neuron excitability is crucial to our understanding of airway afferent neurophysiology and may also provide insight into novel therapeutic targets for various inflammatory lung diseases.