Trends in Pharmacological Sciences
ReviewAnalysis of exhaled breath condensate for monitoring airway inflammation
Section snippets
Collection of exhaled breath condensate
The collection of EBC samples is simple and easy to perform. In most studies, the equipment is home-made and generally consists of a mouthpiece with a one-way valve connected to a collecting system that is placed in either ice or liquid nitrogen to cool the breath [5]. The collecting system can be a condensing chamber with a double wall of glass, the inner wall of which is cooled by ice [7]. Generally, subjects wear a noseclip and are asked to breath tidally for 15 min through a mouthpiece
Markers in EBC
Several markers of oxidative stress and/or inflammatory mediators, such as 8-isoprostane [also known as 8-iso-prostaglandin F2α(PGF2α)], leukotrienes, prostaglandins, H2O2 and 3-nitrotyrosine, have been detected in EBC from healthy subjects and are increased in patients with different airway inflammatory diseases (Fig. 2). Collection of EBC is well accepted by patients, completely noninvasive and suitable for longitudinal studies. It is also possible to make measurements in children and in
Concluding remarks
Measurements of inflammatory mediators in EBC provide insights into the pathophysiology of inflammatory lung diseases. This method is: (1) completely noninvasive; (2) suitable for repeated measurements of lung inflammation during stable and/or exacerbated phases of airway diseases; and (3) potentially useful for assessing the efficacy of drug therapy. Analysis of EBC is a promising method to measure inflammatory mediators easily and could provide a novel, noninvasive approach to monitoring lung
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, grant'Research funds for the Faculty of Medicine', 2000–2001.
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