The active ingredient of Mucoangin® is ambroxol hydrochloride. Due to its various effects, ambroxol can be used both in the context of acute sore throats and in the context of a disease of the lower respiratory tract. A special effect of ambroxol hydrochloride is its expectorant property.
It influences the mucus-producing glands in the oral cavity and in the area of the respiratory tract in such a way that the toughness of the mucus is reduced, the mucus becomes more fluid and can thus be better transported out of the bronchi. A further property of the Mucoangin® active ingredient Ambroxol is its pain inhibition. The transmission of pain in the sensitive nerve fibers is dependent on so-called voltage-dependent sodium channels in the cell membrane.
These channels are now inhibited by the intake of Ambroxol, so that pain is relieved. Both properties are used when Mucoangin® is taken. Increased salivary secretion is now produced in the oral cavity by the salivary glands.
This salivary secretion then mixes with the active ingredient ambroxol and is swallowed. On its way towards the stomach, it then reaches the areas in the throat and neck that may be inflamed by an infection and cause pain. At these inflamed areas, Mucoangin® inhibits the transmission of pain by blocking the sodium channels and thus interrupting the pain signal.
Mode of action
Mucoangin® has a so-called local anesthetic effect. Local anesthesia means a local analgesic/pain-relieving effect. The pain-inhibiting effect is achieved by altering the sodium channels on the pain-transmitting nerve fibers.
The pain transmission in the nerve fibers is achieved by changing so-called membrane potentials. These potentials arise from different concentrations of electrolytes (salts) in and around a cell. The various salts such as sodium, potassium or calcium enter the cell through channels and leave the cell again around the cell.
Sodium plays a decisive role for the nerve cells. If the nerve fiber is to be excited in order to transmit the sensation of pain to the brain, a massive influx of sodium ions into the cell occurs. This is exactly where Mucoangin® comes in.
It blocks the sodium channels. However, the binding of the active ingredient ambroxol hydrochloris is not permanent, but only temporary. In medicine, this time limitation is known as reversible binding.
