TY - JOUR T1 - Exhaled breath condensate pH and exhaled nitric oxide in allergic asthma and in cystic fibrosis JF - Thorax JO - Thorax SP - 22 LP - 26 DO - 10.1136/thx.2003.017327 VL - 60 IS - 1 AU - J C Ojoo AU - S A Mulrennan AU - J A Kastelik AU - A H Morice AU - A E Redington Y1 - 2005/01/01 UR - http://thorax.bmj.com/content/60/1/22.abstract N2 - Background: It has been proposed that the pH of airway lining fluid may regulate the fractional exhaled concentration of nitric oxide (FeNO) in respiratory disease. Methods: FeNO, exhaled breath condensate (EBC) pH, and EBC concentrations of nitrite plus nitrate (NO2/NO3) were compared in 12 subjects with stable asthma, 18 with stable cystic fibrosis (CF), and 15 healthy control subjects. Eight of the CF patients were studied on a separate occasion at the start of a pulmonary exacerbation. Results: FeNO was significantly greater in asthmatic subjects than in control subjects (mean 35 v 9 ppb, p<0.001). EBC pH, however, was similar in the asthmatic and control groups (median 5.82 v 6.08, p = 0.23). Levels of NO2/NO3 were on average higher in EBC samples from asthmatic subjects, but the difference was not significant. In patients with stable CF both the FeNO (mean 4 ppb, p<0.001) and EBC pH (median 5.77, p = 0.003) were lower than in the control group. Levels of EBC NO2/NO3 (median 29.9 μM; p = 0.002) in patients with stable CF, in contrast, were significantly higher than in control subjects. During CF exacerbations, EBC pH was further reduced (median 5.30, p = 0.017) but FeNO and NO2/NO3 were unchanged. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate a dissociation between EBC pH and FeNO in inflammatory airways disease. ER -