Abstract
We studied the relations between the mucociliary beat frequency (MF) measured photometrically on the depleted frog palate and the rheological properties of sputum collected in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. MF was lower (p < 0.001) with sputa (11.3 ± 3.3 Hz) than with frog mucus (16.9 ± 3.3 Hz) used as controls. The relative transport rate (Tr) of sputa was closely correlated (r = 0.81, p < 0.001) to the relative MF. Significant correlations were observed between MF on the one hand and viscosity (r = −0.68, p < 0.01), elastic modulus (r = −0.70, p < 0.01) and spinability (r = +0.49, p < 0.05) on the other. These results suggest that abnormalities in the rheological properties of bronchial secretions may impair the mucociliary transport rate by first decreasing the ciliary beat frequency.
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