Fighting viruses is as easy as breathing (Odd “lung chips” identify strained breathing as creating an immune response, and COPD and ventilators get an excessive response from it)

Medical Xpress / Harvard University / Nature Communications ^ | Apr. 8, 2022 | Donald Ingber, M.D., Ph.D. et al

[ConservativeMind]

The average person will take more than 600 million breaths over the course of their life. Every breath stretches the lungs' tissues with each inhale and relaxes them with each exhale. The mere motions of breathing are known to influence vital functions of the lungs, the production of air-exchange-enhancing fluid on their inner surfaces, and maintenance of healthy tissue structure. Now, new research has revealed that this constant pattern of stretching and relaxing does even more—it generates immune responses against invading viruses.

The research team discovered that applying mechanical forces that mimic breathing motions suppresses influenza virus replication by activating protective innate immune responses.

Focus on your breath

The team then carried out the same experiment without mechanical breathing motions. To their surprise, chips exposed to breathing motions had 50% less viral mRNA in their alveolar channels and a significant reduction in inflammatory cytokine levels compared to static chips. Genetic analysis revealed that the mechanical strain had activated molecular pathways related to immune defense and multiple antiviral genes, and these activations were reversed when the cyclical stretching was stopped.

Knowing that sometimes the lungs experience greater than 5% strain, such as in chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) or when patients are put on mechanical ventilators, the scientists increased the strain to 10% to see what would happen. The higher strain caused an increase in innate immune response genes and processes, including several inflammatory cytokines.

"Because the higher strain level resulted in greater cytokine production, it might explain why patients with lung conditions like COPD suffer from chronic inflammation, and why patients who are put on high-volume ventilators sometimes experience ventilator-induced lung injury," Si explained.

[ConservativeMind]

A lot of the article speaks to these strange “lung chips,” which are programmed to function as parts of a human lung. It’s an interesting, yet odd thing to read.

In the end, they identified that the physical act of lung strain while breathing starts an immune reaction, and more strain means a greater response.

Two medicines are mentioned, but without enough context or availability to be useful at this time.

When my wife had COVID in her lungs, she was told to get up and keep moving. She had trouble breathing and that seemed the wrong thing to do, but she believes it was exactly what helped her regain her breath.

If you are infected and it hurts to breathe, that same breathing may be exactly what you need to help yourself.

[ConservativeMind]

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[thinden]

Thanx for posting this info

[fishtank]

Intelligent design.

[mewzilla]

The lockdowns were truly evil.