Olfactory epithelium from the frog was examined in the living state by light microscopy and in the fixed state by electron microscopy. Particular attention was paid to the layer of cilia and mucus which covers the surface of the epithelium. The olfactory cilia differed from typical cilia in that they (a) arose from bipolar neurons and had centrioles near their basal bodies, (b) were up to 200 m...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Mucin function is associated with both peptide core and glycosylation characteristics. The authors assessed whether structural alterations occurring during mucin residence in the tear film reflect changes in ocular surface physiology. METHODS Ocular surface mucus was collected from normal volunteers as N-acetyl cysteine (NAcCys) washes or directly from the speculum after catar...

effect of cervical mucus aspiration with insulin syringe on pregnancy rate in art cycles     a. aflatoonian md1*, m. asgharnia md 2, n.tabibnejad gp3     1- associated professor, dept. of gynecology, university of medical sciences and research and clinical center of infertility, yazd, iran   2- assistant professor, dept. of gynecology, guilan university of medical sciences, rasht, iran   3- gen...

The affinity of various corneal boundary surfaces, such as mucus-coated epithelium, demucinized epithelium, denuded basement membrane, and keratectomized cornea, to water and hydrophobic liquids was determined by contact angle goniometry on enucleated rabbit eyes. The mucus-coated surface and the bare stromal surface without the basement membrane were found to be more hydrophilic than the surfa...

Two hypotheses have been proposed recently that offer different views on the role of airway surface liquid (ASL) in lung defense. The "compositional" hypothesis predicts that ASL [NaCl] is kept low (<50 mM) by passive forces to permit antimicrobial factors to act as a chemical defense. The "volume" hypothesis predicts that ASL volume (height) is regulated isotonically by active ion transport to...

Reef coral cover is in rapid decline worldwide, in part due to bleaching (expulsion of photosynthetic symbionts) and outbreaks of infectious disease. One important factor associated with bleaching and in disease transmission is a shift in the composition of the microbial community in the mucus layer surrounding the coral: the resident microbial community-which is critical to the healthy functio...

STUDY OBJECTIVES The mechanisms involved in the impairment of mucociliary function after lung transplantation are not completely understood. The purpose of the present study was to isolate the effects of unilateral bronchial transection and reanastomosis in a rat model. DESIGN In situ bronchial mucociliary transport (MCT) was determined proximal and distal to the bronchial anastomosis, as wel...

RATIONALE Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a leading cause of death worldwide, but its pathogenesis is not well understood. Previous studies have shown that airway surface dehydration in beta-epithelial Na(+) channel (betaENaC)-overexpressing mice caused a chronic lung disease with high neonatal pulmonary mortality and chronic bronchitis in adult survivors. OBJECTIVES The aim of this ...

Background and aims: Mucus released from goblet cells is important in intestinal mucosal defence, and mucin glycoproteins are thought to be major components of mucus. Recently, we identified and cloned another component of human colonic mucus, IgG Fc binding protein (FcγBP). FcγBP is immunologically distinct from known Fcγ receptors and its structure contains repeated cysteine rich unit sequenc...