Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 May 13:12:653985.
doi: 10.3389/fphys.2021.653985. eCollection 2021.

The Cholinergic and ACE-2-Dependent Anti-Inflammatory Systems in the Lung: New Scenarios Emerging From COVID-19

Martina Di Maro  1 , Mauro Cataldi  2 , Mariarosaria Santillo  1 , Martina Chiurazzi  1 , Simona Damiano  1 , Barbara De Conno  1 , Antonio Colantuoni  1 , Bruna Guida  1
Affiliations
Review

The Cholinergic and ACE-2-Dependent Anti-Inflammatory Systems in the Lung: New Scenarios Emerging From COVID-19

Martina Di Maro et al. Front Physiol. .

Abstract

The renin angiotensin system and the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway have been recently shown to modulate lung inflammation in patients with COVID-19. We will show how studies performed on this disease are starting to provide evidence that these two anti-inflammatory systems may functionally interact with each other, a mechanism that could have a more general physiological relevance than only COVID-19 infection.

Keywords: angiotensin-converting enzyme 2; inflammation; lung; nicotinic acetylcholine receptors; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Interaction between the renin angiotensin system and the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway in SARS-CoV-2 lung infection. The drawing shows how the renin angiotensin system and the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway modulate tissue inflammation in lungs infected with SARS-CoV-2 and how these two systems interact with each other (see the text for further details). Ang I: Angiotensin I; Ang II: angiotensin II; Ang-(1–7): angiotensin 1-7; Ang-(1–9): angiotensin 1-9; ACE: angiotensin-converting enzyme; ACE2: Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2; AT1R: Angiotensin Receptor 1; AT2: Angiotensin Receptor 2; MASR: Mas receptors.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Alexandris N., Lagoumintzis G., Chasapis C. T., Leonidas D. D., Papadopoulos G. E., Tzartos S. J., et al. (2020). Nicotinic cholinergic system and COVID-19: In silico evaluation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonists as potential therapeutic interventions. Toxicol. Rep. 8 73–83. 10.1016/j.toxrep.2020.12.013 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alqahtani J. S., Oyelade T., Aldhahir A. M., Alghamdi S. M., Almehmadi M., Alqahtani A. S., et al. (2020). Prevalence, severity and mortality associated with COPD and smoking in patients with COVID-19: a rapid systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One 15:e0233147. 10.1371/journal.pone.0233147 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bakhle Y. S., Hartiala J., Toivonen H., Uotila P. (1979). Effects of cigarette smoke on the metabolism of vasoactive hormones in rat isolated lungs. Br. J. Pharmacol. 65 495–499. 10.1111/j.1476-5381.1979.tb07857.x - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Benigni A., Cassis P., Remuzzi G. (2010). Angiotensin II revisited: new roles in inflammation, immunology and aging. EMBO Mol. Med. 2 247–257. 10.1002/emmm.201000080 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Benter I. F., Yousif M. H., Dhaunsi G. S., Kaur J., Chappell M. C., Diz D. I. (2008). Angiotensin-(1-7) prevents activation of NADPH oxidase and renal vascular dysfunction in diabetic hypertensive rats. Am. J. Nephrol. 28 25–33. 10.1159/000108758 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources