Ependymal cilia line the ventricular system moving cerebral spinal fluid close to the brain surface. They may be exposed to fluid of increasing viscosity in certain pathological conditions such as bacterial meningitis. Our aim was to determine the effect of increasing viscosity on ciliary function. Ciliated ependyma was exposed to solutions of different viscosities (1-60cP) and ciliary function...

The form of beat of cilia and the structure of the metachronal wave on the lateral gill epithelium of Mytulus edulis have been studied on living material by interference-contrast microscopy and stroboscopic illumination, and compared with the same features in rapid-fixed preparations studied by light microscopy and with the scanning electron microscope. The most striking finding is that the bea...

The cytoplasmic dynein regulatory factor Lis1, which induces a persistent tight binding to microtubules and allows for transport of cargoes under high-load conditions, is also present in motile cilia/flagella. We observed that Lis1 levels in flagella of Chlamydomonas strains that exhibit defective motility due to mutation of various axonemal substructures were greatly enhanced compared with wil...

The elderly are at much higher risk for developing pneumonia than younger individuals. Pneumonia is a leading cause of death and is the third most common reason for hospitalization in the elderly. One reason that elderly people may be more susceptible to pneumonia is a breakdown in the lung's first line of defense, mucociliary clearance. Cilia beat in a coordinated manner to propel out invading...

Using a "slit camera" recording technique, we have examined the effects of local laser irradiation of cilia of the gill epithelium of Mytilus edulis. The laser produces a lesion which interrupts epithelial integrity. In artificial sea water that contains high K+ or is effectively Ca++ free, metachronism of the lateral cilia continues to either side of the lesion with only minor perturbations in...

All motile somatic cilia, including those of the human respiratory tract, are similar in ultrastructure in that they consist of an axenome of 9 + 2 microtubules surrounded by a specialized extension of the cell membrane. The axonemal elements provide the ciliary motor, which is powered by ATP hydrolysis. In respiratory cilia, mutants occur where axonemal assembly is aberrant such that the doubl...

It has been known for many years that electric currents flowing through a suspension of Paramecium modify the beating characteristics of the cilia in such a way that the organisms turn and move towards the cathode (Ludloff, 1895; Jennings, 1906). Jahn (1961) has accounted for this behaviour by supposing that current flows through the cell membrane and either enhances or reverses the normal cili...

A COVID-19 smoker’s paradox was identified during the early days of pandemic—many studies reported that smokers appeared to be protected against SARS-CoV-2 infections. Conversely, other added controversy with findings increased risk for in heavy smokers. Ciliary beat frequency (CBF) within ciliated epithelium nasal tract can stimulated a higher and provide protection transient exposure airway i...

Cilia and flagella are hairlike extensions of eukaryotic cells which generate oscillatory beat patterns that can propel micro-organisms and create fluid flows near cellular surfaces. The evolutionary highly conserved core of cilia and flagella consists of a cylindrical arrangement of nine microtubule doublets, called the axoneme. The axoneme is an actively bending structure whose motility resul...