Flower Power

Tightness of the chest and neck, wheezing, coughing, and fighting for each breath – these are the terrifying symptoms of a severe asthma attack. More than 300 million people worldwide suffer from asthma (chronic inflammation of the airways) and more than 250,000 will die from the condition each year. Although most patients manage their asthma with anti-inflammatory treatments, for those with especially grave disease, it’s not enough. Researchers are therefore developing additional medications to suppress lung muscle tightening caused by over-stimulated airway receptors – a hallmark of severe asthma. One compound, isolated from the coralberry bush (pictured), targets a variety of these receptors at once and has recently been shown in animal models of asthma to promote sustained airway relaxation. If future studies show the compound is safe for use in humans, it could mean even the most severe asthmatics will finally be able to relax and smell the flowers.

Written by Ruth Williams

Ruth Williams

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Ruth is a freelance science journalist based in the US. She's a regular correspondent for The Scientist, and her work has appeared in The Lancet, Nature, Scientific American Mind, BBC Focus and elsewhere. Twitter @rooph

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• Image by Raphael Reher and Daniela Wenzel, Univeristy of Bonn
• Institute of Physiology I, Life and Brain Center, Medical Faculty, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
• Image copyright held by the photographers
• Research published in Science Translational Medicine, September 2017