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Clinical Investigations: Miscellaneous: ArticlesEffects of Guaifenesin on Nasal Mucociliary Clearance and Ciliary Beat Frequency in Healthy Volunteers
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Clinical Data
Subject Recruitment: The study protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of Nebraska Medical Center prior to subject accrual. Ten healthy volunteers with a history of previous sinus problems were recruited through an advertisement to participate in the study. All subjects had no active sinus infection, nasal or sinus discharge, fevers, nasal stuffiness, or other active symptoms at the time of the study. Originally 12 subjects started the study, but one subject
Effect of Guaifenesin and Placebo on Saccharin Transit Time
The effect of guaifenesin was examined by STT. The baseline STT for individuals prior to guaifenesin and following 7 days on 2,000 mg/d was not significantly different (pre, 14.9 ± 1.2 min vs post, 14.1 ± 1.7 min; p=0.31; Fig 2, A). Similarly, there was no significant difference between the STT measured before and at the end of the placebo period of 7 days (pre, 16.8 ± 2.1 min vs post, 15.5 ± 1.2 min; p=0.28; Fig 2, B). When the change over seven days of treatment for guaifenesin was compared
Discussion
Our study examined the effect of guaifenesin on mucociliary clearance as measured in vivo by nasal STT and on ciliary motility as measured ex vivo by CBF. We found that guaifenesin had no significant effect on either of these measures of nasal mucociliary function. Our observation bolsters the experience in the literature in which few well designed studies have shown that guaifenesin promotes mucociliary clearance. Thomson and coworkers3 found that guaifenesin had a small but positive effect on
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors thank Proctor and Gamble for their sponsorship of this study. We also wish to acknowledge Kathryn May for her valuable technical assistance in performing the nasal brushings and CBF measurements and the nursing staff of the Otolaryngology Clinic for assisting in subject accrual and the nasal STT determinations.
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Deceased.