Mucus transport in the tracheobronchial tree of normal and bronchitic rats

In vitro transport of carbon in the trachea of veal calves

“…Transport velocity was higher in central airways than in more peripheral parts, as reported before (2,6,8,9,13), but only the difference between ventral trachea and main bron- A remarkable finding is the number of particles which did not move or stopped moving. In some cases mucus was seen to accumulate around the charcoal spot, and sometimes mucus transport started after a variable time.…”

“…In vitro, the transport of mucus has been studied on excised airway preparations, mainly with the use of a marker. These studies showed a large variation in the velocity of mucus transport (1, 2,7,8,14,17).1n order to study mucociliary clearance in calves, the in vitro transport of carbon was studied in excised airway preparations, obtained from clinically normal veal calves at slaughter.…”

Immunological functions of the pulmonary epithelium

“…Experimental evidence suggests that mucus is distributed as discontinuous globules, which become increasingly confluent in the larger airways, resulting in a nearly continuous film of mucus in the large bronchi and trachea [84]. This distribution would help prevent pooling of secretions as they move up the airways, through airways progressively larger in diameter, but smaller in total surface area.…”

The role of airway mucus in pulmonary toxicology.

“…As the glycoprotein droplets swell, they begin to form plaques or "rafts" of mucus that move over the periciliary fluid. As the diameter of the airways increases, these rafts coalesce into larger islands of mucus, to eventually form a sheet of mucus (51).…”