Ciliary beat frequency in transplanted lungs.

Abstract

Background-Patients with lung transplantation are prone to respiratory infections. Generally this is attributable to the effects of immunosuppressive drugs but mucociliary clearance has been found to be impaired in these subjects. A study was performed to determine whether this finding is accompanied by a reduction in ciliary beat frequency (CBF). Methods-Six patients who had undergone single lung transplantation for fibrosing lung disease were investigated. CBF was measured in mucosal samples from native and transplanted bronchi by a videophotometry method. Results-The CBF was reduced in the transplanted bronchi in all cases when both fastest and slowest beating cilia were examined. The fastest beating cilia on the native side had a mean (SD) CBF of 12-1 (1.3) Hz compared with 9-6 (2.0) Hz on the transplanted side. The slowest beating cilia also had reduced CBF on the transplanted side. Conclusion-In patients with fibrotic lung disease, CBF is reduced in transplanted bronchi in comparison with native bronchi.

Persistent disruption of ciliated epithelium following paediatric lung transplantation

“…Previous authors [9,12,14] studied CBF in adult lung-transplant recipients and no difference in CBF between the native and transplanted bronchi were reported in all except one study [12]. Heterogeneity in the subject characteristics, indication for transplant, type of transplant and methodology used for sample collection and analysis of CBF makes direct comparison with our study results difficult.…”

“…Limited evidence suggests possible epithelial ultrastructural abnormalities [10] and alterations in airway mucus rheology [7,11] in the early post-operative period following lung transplantation. Though a small number of studies examined ciliary beat frequency (CBF) in adult lung transplant recipients, the finding of a significantly reduced CBF in the transplanted bronchi compared to that of the native bronchi by some authors [12] could not be replicated by others [9,13,14]. To date, there have been no studies that examined ciliary function in children following lung transplantation and no previous paediatric or adult studies have evaluated ciliary beat pattern post lung transplantation.…”

A prospective study of respiratory ciliary structure and function after stem cell transplantation

“…The underlying diagnoses were acute myeloid leukemia (AML, n ¼ 3), acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL, n ¼ 3), chronic myeloid leukemia (CML, n ¼ 7) multiple myeloma (MM, n ¼ 2) and lymphoma (NHL, n ¼ 4). Autologous and allogeneic HSCTs were performed in three (cases 1-3) and 16 cases (cases [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19], respectively, and involved unrelated donors in six cases (cases [14][15][16][17][18][19]. Four male patients (cases 1, 6, 9, 15) were ex-smokers for 1-12 years before HSCT.…”

“…2,16 For lung transplant recipients, it is known that early transient reversible ciliary dysfunction is common 17 and persists only in BO cases with chronic rejection. 18 In HSCT patients, GVHD against the native lung may similarly depress mucociliary clearance, stagnate respiratory mucus and cause a vicious cycle. 19,20 Diagnosis and monitoring of post-HSCT BO are best carried by serial lung function tests.…”

Respiratory ciliary function in bone marrow recipients

“…The defect is confined to the transplanted side and represents a form of chronic rejection. 26 Reduced mucociliary clearance will lead to stagnation of respiratory mucus, which amasses cell debris along with inhaled bacteria in the upper and lower respiratory tract. This could, in turn, create a vicious cycle of infection, inflammation, airway destruction, and possibly secondary ciliary dysfunction.…”