Adrenaline was introduced in 1900 - and first administered by inhaler at Guys Hospital in 1929. Drugs work on parts of the body by attaching to special 'docking stations' on the surface of cells. These docking stations are called receptors. Progress in designing medicines for asthma has come from a better understanding of these receptor sites. Each receptor is responsible for different effects.
Adrenaline stimulates all three kinds of receptor and has lots of side effects.
Isoprenaline, the first refinement, stimulated only the beta receptors but still caused some disturbing side effects. They are safer and have fewer side effects because of their specific action on the muscle of the bronchial wall. Cortisone is the steroid hormone which is produced in the body by the outer layer of the adrenal. Cortisone was extracted from the adrenal gland in 1936 and first used in asthma treatment in 1950. The drugs prednisolone and hydrocortisone were developed four years later.