Influence of tasuldine and acetylcysteine on mucociliary clearance in patients with chronic airways obstruction.

In a single-blind intraindividual cross-over comparative study the influence of two systemic-mucolytic agents, 2-(pyridyl-3-methylthio)pyrimidine (tasuldine, HE 10004-succinate) vs. N-acetyl-L-cysteine (acetylcysteine) on the mucociliary clearance and lung function was investigated in 15 patients with chronic obstructive respiratory disease. The overall treatment period was 14 days with the drug being changed after 7 days in each group. Under tasuldine and acetylcysteine treatment a tendency to an improvement of mucociliary clearance was observed compared with the control pointing to an increase in adoral velocity. The direct comparison between both drugs revealed that 120 min after medication mucociliary clearance was stimulated significantly stronger by intake of tasuldine than by acetylcysteine. There was no influence on lung function.