Ultrastructural Basis of the Coordination of Ciliary Movement

Abstract

A hypothesis for contraction was suggested (molecular basis of the transmission of ciliary coordination) by means of the slipping and interdigitation of the microfilaments of one period with those of the adjacent periods, occurring at the level of the periodic band. The amplitude of the period is greater in the relaxed than in the contracted state, while the reverse is true with the periodic band amplitude. The microfilament length is constant, probably varying with the species. This hypothesis of the slipping and interdigitation of the microfilaments would be the basis of the ciliary coordination from cilium to cilium and from cell to cell, because of the anchoring of the bunches in the peribasal complexes and in the adherent connection complexes, respectively.