Literature-based comparative study between herbal and synthetic mucolytics

Coughing and sneezing are the body’s reflexes to various acute and chronic respiratory illnesses like asthma, COPD, lung cancer, etc. Mucus is a sticky, gelatinous material produced by the mucus gland to protect the airways. Mucolytics, antitussives and expectorants may help in treating hypersecretion of mucin that may lead to cough, cystic fibrosis, asthma, and COPD. Mucolytics if given along with the drugs like corticosteroids, albuterol sulphate, and levalbuterol HCl in asthma and for the management of COPD like corticosteroids and bronchodilators, may help in loosening the viscosity of the mucus and clearing it out. Mucolytics can be synthetic or herbal in origin and work by one of the three processes, viz. enzymatic degradation, disulphide bond cleavage and calcium chelation. Mucolytics breaks down mucin structure and loosen the mucus, helping it to expel out from the body. Some examples of synthetic mucolytics are Bromhexine and N-acetylcysteine. Herbal mucolytics have traditionally been used for the treatment of cough by indigenous people of India. Malva sylvestris, Zizyphus vulgaris are some of the examples of herbal mucolytics.