A new index for characterizing micro-bead motion in a flow induced by ciliary beating: Part I, experimental analysis.

ABSTRACT: Mucociliary clearance is one of the major lines of defense of the respiratory system. The mucus layer coating the pulmonary airways is moved along and out of the lung by the activity of motile cilia, thus expelling the particles trapped in it. Here we compare ex vivo measurements of a Newtonian flow induced by cilia beating (using micro-beads as tracers) and a mathematical model of this fluid flow, presented in greater detail in a second companion article. Samples of nasal epithelial cells placed in water are recorded by high-speed video-microscopy and ciliary beat pattern is inferred. Automatic tracking of micro-beads, used as markers of the flow generated by cilia motion, enables us also to assess the velocity profile as a function of the distance above the cilia. This profile is shown t

SUBMITTER: Bottier M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5510807 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature