Extract
Motile cilia (figure 1a) are organelles that extend from the apical membranes of differentiated epithelial cells [1]. Cilia waveform is coordinated by their ultrastructure and microtubule arrangement e.g. “9+2” cilia (figure 1b) perform metachronal “whip-like” movement, “9+0” embryonic nodal cilia have rotational movement. Axonemal dyneins are adenosine triphosphate (ATP) driven, mechano-chemically regulated, motor proteins responsible for cilia motility. Over 200 “9+2” cilia per cell, line mucosal surfaces of several body sites (e.g. airway, reproductive oviducts, brain ependyma) where mucociliary clearance (MCC) and fluid flow is required. Airway MCC is critical for host defense, removing inhaled pathogens, particulates and mucus (figure 1c).
Footnotes
This manuscript has recently been accepted for publication in the European Respiratory Journal. It is published here in its accepted form prior to copyediting and typesetting by our production team. After these production processes are complete and the authors have approved the resulting proofs, the article will move to the latest issue of the ERJ online. Please open or download the PDF to view this article.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare
- Received August 20, 2021.
- Accepted April 19, 2022.
- Copyright ©The authors 2022. For reproduction rights and permissions contact permissions{at}ersnet.org
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