Incense sticks are customarily used in Asian and Middle Eastern countries to enjoy religious events and scents, but in people with asthma, the smoke of incense sticks may stop coughing or start to see. That is.

　In fact, burning incense sticks produces a lot of harmful substances, and it is known that PM2.5, which has a higher concentration than when burning incense sticks, floats indoors for a long time. There are also reports of clinical studies showing that the risk of asthma is higher and lung function is more likely to decline compared to households that do not use it.However, the details of how inhalation of inhalation of incense smoke affects the function of lungs and airways have not been clarified.

　In experiments using mice, the research group found that the greater the amount of incense burned, the greater the airway hyperresponsiveness of smoke-inhaled mice, that is, the contraction of the airways, which makes it more likely to cause asthma. ..We also found that exposure to incense smoke reduced the expression of "tight junction proteins" in mouse lungs and reduced the barrier function of epithelial cells covering the airways.Tight junction proteins tightly bind cells together
It is said that this decrease in expression adversely affects asthma because it maintains the barrier function of the airway epithelium and prevents the inhaled antigen that causes inflammation from invading the body.

　In addition, in this study, the harmful effects of incense smoke on the lungs and respiratory tract of mice are due to the oxidative stress generated after inhalation of incense smoke, and it is possible to improve the symptoms by using antioxidants. I am reporting.It can be said that this is the result of successful scientific elucidation of the effect of incense smoke on asthma.

Paper information:[Scientific Reports] Incense smoke-induced oxidative stress disrupts tight junctions and bronchial epithelial barrier integrity and induces airway hyperresponsiveness in mouse lungs