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Switching Cough Off
Switching Cough Off
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http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2012/05/switching-cough-off/
The green balls in this illustration of an airway represent the virus that causes the common cold. Credit: Nicolle Rager Fuller/NSF
Scientists are investigating these nerve cell receptors because if they can be blocked at least for a while then maybe the coughing will stop. One of these receptors, called TRPV1, caught scientists attention because it plays a part in coughing and in feeling pain. A medicine that blocks this receptor may relieve pain and coughing. However, further studies soon revealed that blocking this receptor caused people to feel temperatures differently, which might make them more susceptible to burns. More recently, scientists have focused on a receptor called TRPA1. This receptor detects an ingredient in wasabi and mustard oil that gives these foods their punch. This same receptor also responds to a wide variety of breathing irritants, including garlic and tobacco smoke, Sven-Eric Jordt told Science News. Jordt, a scientist who helps develop new medicines at Yale University, led a study on TRPA1. So far, blocking TRPA1 with drugs seems to be a safe treatment, but more studies are needed before scientists can determine if it can cure coughing. If all goes well, says Jordt, TRPA1 might lead to a new kind of cough medicine and a new approach to treating cough. Most cough medicines are swallowed and have to travel through the body to get to the lungs. But what I think may be better for cough is producing a formula that has to be inhaled, Jordt told Science News. The recent studies on receptors as possible targets for cough medicine show that cough research is picking up. Cough in general has until recently been grossly under-researched, Peter Dicpinigaitis told Science News. Dicpinigaitis is a pulmonologist, which means hes a doctor who treats diseases
that affect how we breathe. He runs the Montefiore Cough Center in New York City. Sometimes, when Dicpinigaitis arrives at work, he finds that his waiting room is full of patients who have traveled far for his help. Perhaps one day hell be able to offer them a better cure for cough. POWER WORDS (adapted from the New Oxford American Dictionary and the American College of Physicians) pulmonology The area of medicine concerned with diseases of the respiratory system. nerve cell A cell that transmits nerve impulses. receptor A molecule on the outside of a cell that responds specifically to a particular substance. respiration The act of breathing.