Gwen S Skloot, MD Email Gwen Skloot
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- Position
- PROFESSOR | Medicine, Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine
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- Specialties
- Sleep Medicine
- Pulmonary Medicine
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- Languages
- English
- Spanish
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- Hospital Affiliation
- The Mount Sinai Hospital
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- Phone
- Mount Sinai-National Jewish Respiratory Institute 212-241-5656212-241-5656
News
Mount Sinai Study Finds One Quarter of WTC Responders Continue to Have Lung Function Impairment
Find out more here
Dr. Gwen Skloot discusses the link between asthma and obesity in The Daily News feature The Daily Check Up.
Clinical Focus
- Asthma
- Chronic Bronchitis
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
- Emphysema
- Pulmonary Function Tests
Education
MD, New York University
Internship, Internal Medicine
Mount Sinai Hospital
Residency, Internal Medicine
Mount Sinai Hospital
Fellowship, Pulm & Critical Care
Johns Hopkins Hospital
Languages
English, Spanish
Airway Responsiveness in Asthma
Our laboratory focuses on clinical asthma studies. We hypothesize that hyperresponsiveness is caused by impairment in the ability of inspiration to stretch airway smooth muscle (ASM) -- i.e. impaired bronchodilation. This hypothesis is supported by our finding that sensitivity to the constrictor agent Methacholine is the same in normals and asthmatics when challenge is conducted without deep breaths. It is also known that deep inspiration (DI) prior to a constrictor agent is bronchoprotective in normal subjects. We have shown that this effect relates to inspiratory velocity, i.e. a fast DI is more bronchoprotective than a slow DI. We speculate that in healthy subjects, DI stretches ASM and breaks cross bridges and that cross bridge breakage is enhanced with increased inspiratory velocity. In asthmatics, inflammation may impair this ability. Further protocols will focus on the mechanism of the impaired response to DI in asthma in order to ultimately develop interventions to treat this aspect of hyperresponsiveness.
We have developed an in vitro model to test similar ideas. We hypothesize that stretching guinea pig (GP) tracheal smooth muscle releases a humoral "relaxant" factor [i.e. stretch-induced relaxation (SIR) involves a receptor-mediated mechanism]. The analogous in vivo situation may be the release of a "bronchodilating" substance when a normal subject takes a deep breath. This bronchodilating substance may be decreased in asthma. We have demonstrated that GP tracheal smooth muscle does relax when stretched; this relaxation is enhanced post-carbachol. We have characterized this relaxation response by pharmacokinetic studies. Additional characterization studies are focused on inhibiting the SIR response with agents such as beta-blockers, indomethacin, etc. We have shown that after induction of airway inflammation, the SIR response is reduced. Future protocols will address the mechanism of this reduced response and the relevance to human asthma.
Physicians and scientists on the faculty of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai often interact with pharmaceutical, device and biotechnology companies to improve patient care, develop new therapies and achieve scientific breakthroughs. In order to promote an ethical and transparent environment for conducting research, providing clinical care and teaching, Mount Sinai requires that salaried faculty inform the School of their relationships with such companies.
Dr.Skloot did not report having any of the following types of financial relationships with industry during 2017 and/or 2018: consulting, scientific advisory board, industry-sponsored lectures, service on Board of Directors, participation on industry-sponsored committees, equity ownership valued at greater than 5% of a publicly traded company or any value in a privately held company. Please note that this information may differ from information posted on corporate sites due to timing or classification differences.
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