Objective To investigate the expression of aquaporin-1( AQP-1) in pulmonary tissues of asthma mice and the effects of acetazolamide( AZ) on AQP-1 expression. Methods Forty C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into five groups. Group A was treated with phosphate buffer as a non-asthmatic group.The mice in group B, C, D, and E were sensitized with ovalbumin( OVA) and challenged with aerosol OVA to establish asthma model. The mice in group B, C, and D were interperitoneally injected with AZ at doses of 300, 200, 100 mg/kg, respectively during the challenge period. Results ①Wet/dry weight ratio of lung tissues in group E was significantly higher than that in group A( P lt;0. 05) , while it was lower in B, C and D groups than group E. ②The total number of cells, the number of eosinophils, and interleukin-5( IL-5) inBALF of group E were higher than those in group A( P lt;0. 05) , and interferon-γ( IFN-γ) level was lower in group E than in group A ( P lt; 0. 05) . After AZ treatment, the total number of cells, the number of eosinophils, neutrophils and lymphocytes were significantly decreased( P lt; 0. 05) , which were positively correlated with the dose of AZ. ③AQP-1 were expressed in tracheal epithelium, microvascular endothelial cell and bronchial peripheral vascular bed, and the expression in group E was significantly higher than that in group A( P lt;0. 01) . AQP-1 expression was significantly decreased after the intervention of AZ ( P lt;0. 05) .The decrease was positively correlated with the dose of AZ. The expression of AQP-1 mRNA showed no significant difference among these groups( P gt;0. 05) . Conclusions AQP-1 was over-expressed in the lung tissue of mice with asthma. AZ can inhibit the expression of AQP-1 and relieve lung inflammatory cells infiltrationin a dose-dependent manner. It is the protein expression of AQP-1 not the AQP-1 mRNA which were significantly different in different groups, suggesting that AZ affected AQP-1 in the post-transcriptional stage.
Objective To analyze the clinical characteristics of massive thunderstorm asthma (TA) patients in Lanzhou City, explore the independent risk factors for moderate-to-severe exacerbations, and provide an evidence-based basis for the prevention and management of TA. Methods We retrospectively included 159 TA patients admitted to the outpatient and inpatient departments of the Second Hospital of Lanzhou University within 24h after the occurrence of thunderstorms on September 3, September 8, and September 27, 2024. The patients were divided into a mild group and a moderately severe group according to the severity grading criteria for acute asthma exacerbations in the Global Initiative for Asthma Control and Prevention (GINA). Logistic regression analyses were applied to compare the differences in the clinical characteristics of the two groups, and to find the independent risk factors for moderate-to-severe exacerbations. Results A total of 159 patients were included in the study, including 67 (42.1%) males and 92 (57.9%) females, with a median age of 34 years; 106 (66.7%) cases had their first attack; 84 (52.8%) cases had a history of previous allergic diseases, and 49 (30.8%) cases had a familial history of allergic diseases. There were 115 (72.3%) patients with mild attacks and 44 (27.7%) with moderate-to-severe attacks; 111 (69.8%) patients with serum IgE positive and 91 (57.2%) patients with Artemisia pollen allergens; the baseline lung ventilation function was dominated by the normal range (32.1%) and mild obstructive pulmonary dysfunction (30.8%), and the bronchodilation test was positive in 45 cases (28.3%). Mean FEV1/FVC was 75.31%, median FEV1%pred was 90.3%, mean PEF%pred was 86.70%, median FeNO50 was 38 ppb, and FeNO50 was greater than 25 ppb in 74.8% of the patients. There was a statistically significant difference between the clinical characteristics of patients in the mild group and moderately severe group in terms of previous regular asthma treatment, first asthma exacerbation, familial history of allergic diseases, history of allergic rhinitis, visit to the clinic with wheezing as the main symptom, artemisia pollen allergy, baseline lung ventilation function grading, FEV1/FVC, FEV1%pred, PEF%pred, bronchodilation test and FeNO50. Further multifactorial logistic regression analysis showed that family history of allergic diseases, history of allergic rhinitis, visit to the clinic with wheezing as the main symptom, elevated peripheral blood eosinophil count and positive bronchodilation test were independent risk factors for the patients with moderate-to-severe exacerbations, and FEV1/FVC greater than 70% was an independent protective factor for them (P<0.05). Conclusions Thunderstorm weather is an important environmental factor in triggering acute asthma attacks, and is closely associated with exposure of susceptible individuals to high concentrations of artemisia pollen allergens. A family history of allergic disease, previous allergic rhinitis, a visit to the doctor with wheezing as the main symptom, an elevated peripheral blood eosinophil count (>0.5×109/L) and a positive bronchodilation test are independent risk factors for patients with moderate-to-severe exacerbations, and an FEV1/FVC greater than 70% is an independent protective factor for them.
