Ciliary Beat Frequency at Six Levels of the Rabbit and Rat Respiratory Tract in Cow, Dog, Guinea‐pig, Pig

Abstract

1. The ciliary beat frequency (CBF) of six animal species from six regions of the respiratory tract were measured: inferior turbinate, nasopharynx, the upper part of trachea from first to second cartilage, the lower part of trachea, main bronchus and subsegmental bronchi. Cow, pig, dog, rabbit, guinea-pig and rat were studied. 2. There were no significant differences in the CBF values between cow, pig and dog, and the ciliary activity was essentially the same (11.3-16.9 Hz) in all parts of the respiratory tract. 3. In the rat, the CBF was slower, especially in subsegmental bronchi (6.8 Hz). 4. In general, CBF was higher in upper than lower airways, with the exception of guinea-pig. 5. Signal quality was the highest in guinea-pig tissue, whereas rat tissue produced the signal with the widest variation in CBF and the highest proportion of distorted waveforms. 6. Therefore, for studying drug effects on ciliary activity, guinea-pig seems to be a more suitable animal than the more commonly used rabbit or rat. In drug comparisons, the same part of the respiratory tract and the same animal species should be used.

Ciliary Beating Plane and Wave Propagation in the Bovine Oviduct

“…Although CBF may not be equated with fluid movement itself [Shi et al, 2011], CBF is usually considered to be a valuable indicator and, therefore, is used as one criterion in the functional assessment of primary ciliary dyskinesia [Mantovani et al, 2010]. In our tubal samples, mean CBF was 11.9 ± 4.1 Hz at 36 ± 0.2 ° C. This is in good agreement with values reported for tracheal and tubal cilia in various species [Joki and Saano, 1994;Ryser et al, 2007;Shi et al, 2011], yet at some variance from a CBF of 5.3 ± 0.2 Hz that was reported for human tubal epithelium [Lyons et al, 2002]; in this study, however, epithelial temperature was not taken into account. As is known, this factor has a high impact on CBF [Ryser, 2009] and thus provides a plausible explanation for this difference.…”

“…The effectiveness of mucociliary transport is well established [Chilvers and O'Callaghan, 2000] and both the angular spread and ciliary beat frequency (CBF) have been investigated extensively in the respiratory tract of various species including birds, mice, rats, cattle, horses and humans [Buchdahl et al, 1988;Rautiainen, 1988;de Iongh and Rutland, 1989;Rautiainen et al, 1990;Rutman et al, 1993;Joki and Saano, 1994;de Iongh and Rutland, 1995;Rayner et al, 1996;Biggart et al, 2001;Jorissen and Willems, 2004;Plesec et al, 2008]. From 1976 onwards, Afzelius [1976Afzelius [ , 1979Afzelius [ , 1981] corroborated the link between ultrastructural anomalies of the axoneme and primary ciliary dyskinesia (then called immotile cilia syndrome), a disorder being associated with reduced mucociliary clearance, recurrent airway infections, decreased fertility and situs inversus [Afzelius and Eliasson, 1983].…”

Nitrogen dioxide exposure impairs the frequency of the mucociliary activity in healthy subjects

“…This is in accordance with a recent in vivo study in humans [12]. In several in vitro studies similar results (11-13 Hz) have been obtained both in humans [13,14] and animals [15]. Some in vitro studies of human cultured epithelial cells have, however, reported far lower frequencies, which may have been due to in vitro situations that do not sufficiently conform with the normal physiological environment in vivo [16,17].…”

The porcine lung as a potential model for cystic fibrosis

“…CBF is typically quantified in vitro (61,97,118), but Svartengren et al (226) have also developed an in vivo method in pigs to measure CBF with laser light scattering microscopy and bronchoscopy, measuring a CBF of 5 Hz.…”