VPT 311: General and Systemic Veterinary Pharmacology (2+1)

CORTICOSTEROIDS

• The reduction of mucosal edema in bronchi and bronchioles can be achieved by use of glucocorticoids to suppress the inflammatory response.
• In man the corticosteroids are used for severe, disabling, bronchodilator-resistant asthma.
• These may be administered orally, parenterally or as an aerosol.
• Their use carries the risks of a reduced ability to gight infections and also the risk of adrenal cortex suppression if the administration is prolonged.
• Their effects on the inflammatory response include membrane stabilization, reduced antibody synthesis, reduced mediator release following antigen-antibody interactions and lessened fibrosis.
• These drugs also block uptake 2 and so extend the half-life of endogenous sympathomimetics.
• Corticosteroids can be used with advantage to control chronic allergic-type summer coughs in dogs either by the oral administration of prednisolone or by the use of injectable depot preparations.