Choline tegen Astma.*
Een studie uit India, weliswaar nog met muizen, laat zien dat choline dezelfde resultaten bereikt als nu gebruikte medicaties tegen astma. Volgens de onderzoekers zou extra choline de medicatie kunnen vervangen of sterk reduceren doch om zeker te zijn zijn verdere studies nodig.
Choline, An Alternative Therapy For Asthma
The prevalence of asthma has increased worldwide and current therapies for the disease, such as glucocorticoids, are limited in their usefulness, due to potential side effects.
Bhanu Pratap Singh (Allergy and Immunology Section, Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Delhi, India) and his team examined the anti-inflammatory effects of choline via oral or intranasal routes in mice model of allergic asthma.
Choline treatment inhibits the development of airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) and eosinophilic inflammation in the lungs. This reduction of AHR is accompanied by a reduction in immunoglobulin E antibody (IgE) and other inflammatory parameters like type 2 T-helper cell (Th2) cytokines, in a manner comparable with current therapy of asthma. Choline treatment also downregulates mucus production and prevents airway obstruction.
Choline is an organic compound, an essential nutrient usually grouped within the Vitamin B complex. This natural amine is found in the lipids that make up cell membranes and in the neurotransmitter acetylcholine.
Increased plasma levels of lysophosphatidyl choline, which play an important role in pathogenesis, were reported in asthmatics. Choline supplementation increases membrane phosphatidyl choline and thereby decreases the mediator release from human
basophils.
The results of the present study are encouraging, as choline therapy may enable to substitute or reduce the dosage and side effects of steroid therapy in asthma. However, further studies are required with pre-clinical models of chronic allergic airway disease and subsequent investigations in
asthmatics.
The European Respiratory Journal is the peer-reviewed scientific publication of the European Respiratory Society (more than 8,000 specialists in lung diseases and respiratory medicine in Europe, the United States and
Australia). (Oktober 2007)
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