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β2-Agonists

  • Chapter
Anti-Inflammatory Drugs in Asthma

Part of the book series: Progress in Inflammation Research ((PIR))

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Abstract

β2-Adrenoceptor agonists are widely used as bronchodilators and have been used to treat acute attacks of asthma for decades. They can be divided into the very short acting which last 1 to 2 h (e.g. rimiterol), the short-acting such as salbutamol which produce an effect for 4 to 6 h and the newer longer acting β-agonists such as salmeterol and formoterol which maintain bronchodilatation for at least 12 h [1, 2]. β-Agonists antagonise the effects of a wide variety of bronchoconstrictor agents on airway smooth muscle in vitro and in vivo and are thus functional antagonists. The main mechanism by which they cause smooth muscle relaxation involves the cyclic 3′5′ adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) second messenger system which is linked to the β2-adrenoceptor by a coupling G-protein and adenylate cyclase, the effector enzyme [3] (Fig. 1). Cyclic AMP is able to modulate a number of processes which are important in governing the contractile state of the cell [4].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Respiratory Medicine, City Hospital, Hucknall Road, Nottingham, NG5 1PB, UK

    Joanna S. Thompson Coon & Anne E. Tattersfield

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  1. Immunopharmacology Group, Southampton General Hospital, Tremona Road, Southampton, SO16 6YD, UK

    Anthony P. Sampson  & Martin K. Church  & 

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© 1999 Springer Basel AG

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Coon, J.S.T., Tattersfield, A.E. (1999). β2-Agonists. In: Sampson, A.P., Church, M.K. (eds) Anti-Inflammatory Drugs in Asthma. Progress in Inflammation Research. Birkhäuser, Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-8751-9_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-8751-9_4

  • Publisher Name: Birkhäuser, Basel

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-0348-9757-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-0348-8751-9

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