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Assessing mucociliary transport of single particles in vivo shows variable speed and preference for the ventral trachea in newborn pigs

2014; National Academy of Sciences; Volume: 111; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1073/pnas.1323633111

1091-6490

Mark J. Hoegger, Maged Awadalla, Eman Namati, Omar A. Itani, Anthony J. Fischer, Alexander J. Tucker, Ryan J. Adam, Geoffrey McLennan, Eric A. Hoffman, David A. Stoltz, Michael J. Welsh,

Neonatal Respiratory Health Research

Significance Mucociliary transport (MCT) defends lungs by removing particulates, and defective MCT is hypothesized to contribute to the onset of lung diseases such as asthma, chronic bronchitis, and cystic fibrosis. However, testing those hypotheses has been limited by current MCT assays and mouse models of human disease. We developed an in vivo MCT assay in newborn pigs, which share physiological and anatomical features with humans. The X-ray–computed tomographic-based method provided high spatial and temporal resolution. We discovered that particles preferentially travel up the ventral airway surface. We also discovered substantial heterogeneity in rates of individual particle movement, indicating that MCT does not likely involve homogeneous mucus blankets. The granularity of the data may aid understanding of MCT and disease pathogenesis.