Beta agonists are often used to relieve the symptoms of asthma. Describe how these drugs work.?

Question

Beta agonists are often used to relieve the symptoms of asthma. Describe how these drugs work.?

Answer 1

Asthma is caused by a narrowing of the airways and beta agonists cause dilation of the airways making them wider and therefore it is easier to breath. They also relax the muscles surrounding the airways so that they don't go into bronchospasm which is what causes asthma attacks.

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Answer 2

Asthma is caused by a narrowing of the airways and beta agonists cause dilation of the airways making them wider and therefore it is easier to breath. They also relax the muscles surrounding the airways so that they don't go into bronchospasm which is what causes asthma attacks.

Also NSAIDs should not be given to someone with asthma as it aggravates it but corticosteroids are used to treat the inflammation.

Answer 3

Well, they work by binding to some receptors called Beta adrenergic receptors.There's two kinds of beta receptors, beta 1 and Beta 2.Beta 1 controlls heartbeat while beta 2 controls respiration. When you have asthma, your airway is contricted, so you need to dilate it.By binding to the Beta 1 receptor, these drugs can dilate the airway.Some drugs bind Beta 1 specifically, and these drugs are called Beta 1 selective agonists.Some bind to both beta 1 and beta 2, and they cause side effects like tachicardia, high blood pressure etc... These drugs are called non-selective beta agonists.

Also if inflamation is present in the airway, these drugs are not effective by themseves and must be combined with NSAIDs or corticoseroids to relieve the inflamation.