[Clinical and morphofunctional changes in the mucosa of the inferior nasal conchae in various forms of chronic rhinitis].

Having in view the concept about a close relationship between morphofunctional changes and clinical picture of the disease, 35 patients of different sex, age and various duration of the disease were examined, in order to clarify certain modifications of chronic rhinitis and mechanisms of its pathogenesis. It was found that the forms of the disease were characterized by structural changes of the mucosa, whose microrhinoscopic picture was very different in the case of hyperplastic rhinitis. Changes in hydrolytic enzymes were dissimilar in the case of various clinical forms of the disease. Most demonstrative were the changes in alkaline phosphatase and ATPase in the glandular epithelium and walls of blood vessels in the mucosa. This can be used as an indirect sign of the functional state of the mucosa. Significant enzymatic changes reflect metabolic shifts in mucous structural components and can serve as the basis for the development of hypertrophic and hyperplastic processes.