Mucociliary Transport

Abstract

Relationship between the mucociliary transport time and the ciliary beat frequency in the chicken nose was studied under the conditions of the water deprivation, the administration of cocaine and atropine and Newcastle disease virus infection.
Internal dehydration produced progressive deceleration of mucociliary flow without the influence on ciliary best frequency.
Administration of 5% cocaine to the sinus decelerated the mucociliary transport time in vivo. 20% of cocaine caused the ciliary paralysis 5 minutes after application in vitro.
Atropine neither had apparent effect on the mucociliary flow nor on ciliary beat frequency.
NDV infection induced the deceleration of the turbinate clearance time but no effect on ciliary beat frequency on day 3. On day 14, ciliary beat frequency was significantly decreased, however, mucociliary flow was not influenced.
These results indicated that the mucociliary function might be more important factor than the ciliary beat.