Wang Hsing-Won, Liu Shao-Cheng, Chao Pin-Zhir, Lee Fei-Peng
The Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine and Department of Otolaryngology, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University-Shuang Ho Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China;; Department of Preventive and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University-Shuang Ho Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China;; Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Int J Med Sci. 2016 Nov 17;13(12):923-928. doi: 10.7150/ijms.17042. eCollection 2016.
Menthol is used as a constituent of food and drink, tobacco and cosmetics nowadays. This cold receptor agonist has been used as a nasal inhalation solution in the daily life. The effect of menthol on nasal mucosa is well known; however, the effect of the drug on tracheal smooth muscle has been rarely explored. Therefore, during administration of the drug for nasal symptoms, it might also affect the trachea via oral intake or inhalation. We used our preparation to test the effectiveness of menthol on isolated rat tracheal smooth muscle. A 5 mm long portion of rat trachea was submersed in 30 ml Krebs solution in a muscle bath at 37ºC. Changes in tracheal contractility in response to the application of a parasympathetic mimetic agent were measured using a transducer connected to a Pentium III computer equipped with polygraph software. The following assessments of menthol were performed: (1) effect on tracheal smooth muscle resting tension; (2) effect on contraction caused by 10 M methacholine as a parasympathetic mimetic; (3) effect of the drug on electrically induced tracheal smooth muscle contractions. Results indicated that addition of a parasympathetic mimetic to the incubation medium caused the trachea to contract in a dose-dependent manner. Addition of menthol at doses of 10 M or above elicited a relaxation response to 10 M methacholine-induced contraction. Menthol could also inhibit electrical field stimulation (EFS) induced spike contraction. However, it alone had a minimal effect on the basal tension of trachea as the concentration increased. We concluded that the degree of drug-induced tracheal contraction or relaxation was dose-dependent. In addition, this study indicated that high concentrations of menthol might actually inhibit parasympathetic function of the trachea.
如今，薄荷醇被用作食品、饮料、烟草和化妆品的成分。这种冷感受器激动剂在日常生活中被用作鼻腔吸入溶液。薄荷醇对鼻黏膜的作用是众所周知的；然而，该药物对气管平滑肌的作用却鲜有研究。因此，在使用该药物治疗鼻部症状时，它也可能通过口服或吸入影响气管。我们使用自制制剂来测试薄荷醇对离体大鼠气管平滑肌的有效性。将一段5毫米长的大鼠气管浸入37℃肌肉浴中的30毫升 Krebs 溶液中。使用连接到配备多道记录仪软件的奔腾III计算机的换能器测量应用拟副交感神经药物后气管收缩性的变化。对薄荷醇进行了以下评估：(1) 对气管平滑肌静息张力的影响；(2) 对作为拟副交感神经药物的10 μM 乙酰甲胆碱引起的收缩的影响；(3) 该药物对电诱导的气管平滑肌收缩的影响。结果表明，向孵育培养基中添加拟副交感神经药物会导致气管以剂量依赖性方式收缩。添加10 μM 或更高剂量的薄荷醇会引发对10 μM 乙酰甲胆碱诱导收缩的舒张反应。薄荷醇还可以抑制电场刺激 (EFS) 诱导的尖峰收缩。然而，随着浓度增加，它单独对气管的基础张力影响最小。我们得出结论，药物诱导的气管收缩或舒张程度是剂量依赖性的。此外，这项研究表明，高浓度的薄荷醇实际上可能会抑制气管的副交感神经功能。
