Comprehensive Report: Respiratory System Pharmacology and Medications

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the respiratory system, detailing its structure, function, and the processes involved in breathing. It explores common respiratory diseases such as asthma, COPD, and lung cancer, highlighting the impact these conditions have on individuals. The core of the report focuses on the pharmacology of the respiratory system, discussing various medications used in treatment, including bronchodilators (adrenergic and anticholinergic drugs), corticosteroids, mast cell stabilizers, and leukotriene receptor antagonists. It explains the mechanisms of action, uses, and examples of each drug class, offering insights into how these medications alleviate symptoms and manage respiratory conditions. The report emphasizes the importance of avoiding harmful substances and adopting healthy practices to maintain a healthy respiratory system.

ROLE OF
RESPIRATORY
SYSTEM
PHARMACOLOGY AND MEDICATIONS
Name of the Student
Name of the University

RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
Respiratory system functions to inhale oxygen and expel carbon dioxide.
All the organs processes together to exchange different gases between
the air and the blood in the body to enhance normal bodily functions.

PARTS OF THE RESPIRATORY
SYSTEMThere are several organs in the system for proper functioning such as:
■ Nasal Cavity
■ Sinus
■ Mouth
■ Bronchioles
■ Voice Box (Larynx)
■ Throat (Pharynx)
■ Lungs
■ Windpipe (Trachea)
■ Bronchi
■ Diaphragm
■ Air sacs
■ Capillaries

UPPER RESPIRATORY TRACT
■ Nasal Cavity: Nose has a mucous lining that traps dust particles and
the cilia helps in the circulation of the air.
■ Sinuses: The skull feels light due to the air filled sacs on the side of
the nose.
■ Pharynx: The air and food passes through this and then it reaches the
destination. It also contributes to voice during speech.
■ Larynx: It is important for human speech
(Patwa and Shah 2015).

LOWER RESPIRATORY TRACT
■ Trachea: It is the main airway to the lungs and is located below the larynx.
■ Lungs: The capillaries are given oxygen through lungs and it helps in
releasing carbon dioxide. It is one of the largest organ of the body.
■ Bronchi: This creates a network of passage that supports in supplying air to
the lungs and it branches from trachea.
■ Diaphragm: It is the respiratory muscle that contracts and relaxes to pass air
into the lungs(Patwa and Shah 2015).

ROLE OF RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
Respiratory system makes breathing possible through different
processes.
■ When the mouth and nose inhales air it passes to the back of the
throat.
■ It travels to the windpipe that is divided into the bronchial tubes.
■ The bronchial tube passes through the lungs and divides into
bronchioles that are also small air passages. It turns into an alveoli
that are air like sacs.
■ The tiny blood vessels surrounds the alveoli that are known as
capillaries and this passes the inhaled air into the blood.
■ The blood with the oxygen passes to the heart and then it pumps the
blood to the other parts of the body including the cells of the organs
and tissues (Murphy 2014).

Source: (Knight and Nigam 2017)

DISEASES
■ Asthma
■ Chronic Bronchitis
■ Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
■ Lung Cancer
■ Cystic Fibrosis
■ Emphysema
■ Pleural Effusion
■ Pneumonia
(Ferkol and Scraufnagel 2014)

PHARMACOLOGY
Respiratory system is vulnerable to many kinds of disorders, which
requires medications and some of them are:
■ Inhalers
■ Allopathic medicines
■ Drugs through enteral, transdermal, parenteral or topical routes
(Brand and Arrowsmith 2017).

BRONCHODILATORS
■ These are inhaled medications used for certain respiratory
diseases.
■ It is divided into adrenergic and anticholinergic drugs, which is also
known as short acting or long acting.
■ The anticholinergic drug functions on parasympathetic nervous
system and adrenergic drug functions on sympathetic system.
■ The short acting bronchodilators are effective for 4-6 hours and
long acting drugs works for 12 hours.
■ Example: Albuterol, Salmeterol, and Levalbuterol
(Cazzola and Matera 2014).

CORTICOSTEROIDS
■ These are anti-inflammatory glucocorticoids prescribed to patients
with asthma.
■ Corticosteroids obstructs the cells involved in inflammatory response.
■ It helps in increasing the diameter by decreasing the swelling.
■ Example: Budesonide and Fluticasone (Hong et al. 2014).

MAST CELL STABILIZERS
■ These drugs stabilize the mast cells and inhibits the release of
chemical mediators that are related to asthma that are leukotrienes,
histamine and cytokines.
■ Patients more than 12 years of age are allowed to use this drug and
they should be monitored for 2 hours.
■ Examples: Cromolyn sodium and Nedocromil.

LEUKOTRIENE RECEPTOR
ANTAGONISTS
■ Leukotrienes increases inflammation and these receptors inhibits the effects
of these substance.
■ They are found over the counter by the names montelukast, zieluton and
zafirlukast.
■ Only montelukast is preferred for prescribing to children below the age of 2 as
others are only suitable for children above the age of 6 (Dodwell and Kendall
2014).

CONCLUSION
■ Respiratory system is the most important organ system of the as it is
the reason behind the circulation of oxygen in the body and releasing
of carbon dioxide.
■ Oxygen is the vital life support and without the respiratory system, a
person is unable to breathe that can lead to death.
■ The pharmacology and medication of the respiratory system depends
on the inflammation of any particular organ. The class of medicine is
prescribed according to the part affected.
■ It is necessary to avoid harmful substances like smoke, pollution and
chemical inhalers to have a healthy respiratory system.

References
■Brand, J. and Arrowsmith, J.E., 2017. Respiratory system: applied pharmacology. Anaesthesia & Intensive
Care Medicine, 18(12), pp.609-613.
■Cazzola, M. and Matera, M.G., 2014. Bronchodilators: current and future. Clinics in chest medicine, 35(1),
pp.191-201.
■Dodwell, R.L. and Kendall, J.B., 2014. Respiratory system: applied pharmacology. Anaesthesia & Intensive
Care Medicine, 15(11), pp.517-521.
■Ferkol, T. and Schraufnagel, D., 2014. The global burden of respiratory disease. Annals of the American
Thoracic Society, 11(3), pp.404-406.
■Hong, J.H., Lee, W.C., Hsu, Y.M., Liang, H.J., Wan, C.H., Chien, C.L. and Lin, C.Y., 2014. Characterization
of the biochemical effects of naphthalene on the mouse respiratory system using NMR‐based
metabolomics. Journal of Applied Toxicology, 34(12), pp.1379-1388.
■Knight, J. and Nigam, Y., 2017. Anatomy and physiology of ageing 2: the respiratory system. Nursing
Times, 113(3), pp.53-55.
■Murphy, D.J., 2014. Optimizing the use of methods and measurement endpoints in respiratory safety
pharmacology. Journal of pharmacological and toxicological methods, 70(3), pp.204-209.
■Patwa, A. and Shah, A., 2015. Anatomy and physiology of respiratory system relevant to anaesthesia. Indian
journal of anaesthesia, 59(9), p.533.