Expectorant
Expectorant (thins and mobilizes airway secretions)
- ↑ volume and ↓ viscosity of airway secretions → easier clearance by cough
- Not mucolytic (mucin disulfide bonds intact)
- A named clinical ACTION, not a molecular target: increases the volume and reduces the viscosity of airway secretions so cough clears them more easily
- Guaifenesin’s own mechanism remains unclear — a gastric vagal reflex raising respiratory-tract fluid is the leading proposal, and trial results conflict (Ohar 2019)
- Not a mucolytic: nothing here cleaves mucin disulfide bonds
Drugs with this mechanism (1)
- Guaifenesin — OTC expectorant; NMDA antagonism is incidental to its unclear clinical action.
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