Physics of the mucociliary clearance in airways and the application to severe asthma (INVITED)

Abstract eng:
Mucociliary clearance is the transport of a mucus layer in the airways, induced by beating cilia present on the epithelial surface. We present a physical analysis on the density and dynamics of cilia required to transport the mucus at a macroscopic scale. We used cultures of human bronchial epithelium obtained by biopsies from controls and asthmatic patients. A power law shows that the ciliated cell density controls the distance over which a fluid can be transported. The fluid rotates at a constant angular velocity on localized circular domains thanks to a local force density that linearly increases with the distance to the domain center, through a local control of cilia density and beat directions. subcritical ciliated cell density may explain the impaired clearance in severe asthma, while the mucus rheological properties remain unchanged.

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