What causes increased secretions?

[Therese]

I was hoping someone could enlighten me about secretions in the lungs from a physiological angle. What is a normal amount of secretion? In a perfectly healthy person is it nil? What is the physiological stimulus or process that leads to increased production of mucus/secretion?
Thanks

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[evertthijs]

First of all, I doubt that secretion in normal healthy persons is nil, secretion of fluids and transport of mucus is needed to keep the lungs clean.
The reason I think, for the increase in secretion is the ineffectiveness of this transport due to obstructive or restrictive lung diseases. Perhaps the mucus cells in the lung parenchym will react to the increase in particles in the lung by increasing secretion in the hope of cleaning the lungs via the mucus transport system.
Keep in mind, this is just my hypothesis!

[Husny]

yeah and its mainly due to an action against foreign particles that causes the increase in secretions

[aroun2000]

Hi,
any allergice substance to which the patient is not recessive makes the mucus cell to secerte more. Please find the environment condition of ur patients who comes with more amount of lung secretions. Also you can find more amount of esinophills in the blood for such patients.

Have a view of medicinal therapy too.

chioo

[physiok]

Hi!
normal secretions means when you don't need to cough to evacuate them. Lungs mucous is produced constantly to glue and carry away the small inhaled particles. They are mobilized by the air you exhale and mainly by the mobile hair of the epithelium (free translation from the french "cellules ciliées bronchiques", sorry) that act like an escalator. Then you swallow and don't notice. Smoking occurs a palsy of these hair and you need to cough even if you don't have too much to evacuate.

The increase of secretion might come from 2 factors:
- infection, need to evacuate more dead cells
- inflammation, increase of secretion in reaction to mechanical or allergic irritation.

You'll find a lot of books or abstracts on this subject for more details.

[kripag]

dear Therese,
it is normal to produce approximately 100ml of secretions in a day on an average. of course provided there is no underlying physiological causative agent like an irritant/ drug intake.. etc... you will find more in a book called Egans, also any basic book on physiotherapy in cardiopulmonary rehabilitation by Randall Braddom or even Hillegass or best recomended would be Scot Irwin.
have you evr tried taking lots of coffe/ standing near a heap of waste burning?... forget it all ever had a runnig nose? well its all the same ; incerased secretory reactions to a stimulus... read more on response to sympathetic and parasympathetic stimuli on the endothelial system.. basic physiology.
hope you find these books...
happy reading
kripag