In vitro responses of human asthmatic airway and pulmonary vascular smooth muscle

Airway and pulmonary vascular smooth muscle was obtained from the surgically resected lobe of a human asthmatic allergic to grass pollen who presented with an endobronchial carcinoid tumor. Grass antigen induced sustained contractions of bronchial and pulmonary vein, but not pulmonary artery tissue. Capsaicin did not alter the bronchial response to grass antigen. Contractions to leukotrienes B4, C4, D4 and E4 and methacholine were equivalent to those seen in nonasthmatic human lung tissue, whereas those to histamine were strikingly greater and disproportionate to methacholine. The C3a octapeptide Ala-Ala-Ala-Leu-Gly-Leu-Ala-Arg produced contractions of pulmonary vein and pulmonary artery. These findings are compared with those obtained using human lung samples from nonasthmatic individuals.