Effects of corticosteroids on epithelial structure and smooth muscle function of rat trachea

Corticosteroids, efficient drugs for the treatment of severe asthma, may have numerous side effects. We investigated the effects of 7 days of treatment with triamcinolone (1.2 mg x kg(-1) x day(-1)) on the epithelial structure, tracheal smooth muscle cross-sectional area and contractility in the rat. The corticosteroid-injected rats were compared to pair-fed, and pair-weighed animals. Histological studies were performed on transverse sections of glutaraldehyde-fixed tracheal blocks embedded in plastic. In the preparations taken from corticosteroid-injected, pair-fed and pair-weighed animals, pharmacological stimulation with single (10(-3) M) or cumulative (10(-8)-10(-3) M) concentrations of carbachol (in corticosteroid-injected and pair-fed animals), either inside (In) or outside (Out) of the tracheal lumen, was performed and contractions of the tracheal smooth muscle were recorded. We found that triamcinolone administration: 1) reduced the number of epithelial cells and the tracheal smooth muscle cross-sectional area; 2) induced a decrease in maximal tension (Tmax (g); Out: 2.42+/-0.17, 1.03+/-0.1 in pair-fed and corticosteroid-injected, respectively; In: 2.55+/-0.16, 1.1+/-0.16, respectively) without affecting the sensitivity of the tracheal smooth muscle; and 3) reduced the time required to reach 50% Tmax in carbachol (In) preparations. We conclude that the observed changes resulted from atrophy of tracheal smooth muscle induced by undernutrition and atrophy of tracheal smooth muscle and tracheal epithelium induced by corticosteroid treatment.