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Sodium and asthma: something borrowed, something new?

¹Smooth Muscle Research Group, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta; and ²The Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health, Saint Joseph's Hospital, and Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT

Some early studies have called attention to the potential contribution of sodium (both dietary and serum levels) in airway-related disease, although the picture was not entirely clear. Two recent developments may now allow a more careful consideration of this: first, the greatly improved understanding of the role of salt in hypertension (particularly the identification of subgroups of salt-sensitive individuals within the general population), and second, the recent discovery of the role of the Na⁺/Ca²⁺ exchanger in smooth muscle function. Here, we first review those two developments and then apply them to airway smooth muscle and asthma.

airway-related disease; airway smooth muscle