Since the pathophysiology of human airway contractility is only partly understood, adequate models are needed to correctly perform pre-clinical studies aimed to investigate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and related therapeutics. Indeed, animal models are of limited value because COPD is unique to humans and the anatomy, physiology, and mechanisms of airway narrowing differ among the species. Thus, to date, it is important to carry out experiments by using models based on human isolated airways. In this presentation, models that have been developed to study human airway function ex vivo will be described and discussed, including the recent models of acute exacerbation of COPD, the methods to investigate the neurological activation of airway smooth muscle, and the algorithms to interpret the drug-drug interaction.
