Lung
brush: Working 24×7, microscopic cilia lining your bronchial passages
sweep your lungs clean, allowing you to survive in an atmosphere filled
with pollutants. Science Daily summarized a paper in Science that
described “A Periciliary Brush Promotes the Lung Health by Separating
the Mucus Layer from Airway Epithelia” (Button et al., Science, 24 August 2012: Vol. 337 no. 6097 pp. 937–941, DOI: 10.1126/science.1223012). Science Daily said,
“The cilia are constantly beating, even
while we sleep,” he says. “In a coordinated fashion, they push mucus
containing foreign objects out of the lungs, and we either swallow it or
spit it out. These cilia even beat for a few hours after we die. If
they stopped, we’d be flooded with mucus that provides a fertile
breeding ground for bacteria.”.…
The researchers used a combination of
imaging techniques to observe a dense meshwork in the periciliary
layer of human bronchial epithelial cell cultures. The brush-like layer
consists of protective molecules that keep sticky mucus from reaching
the cilia and epithelial cells, thus ensuring the normal flow of mucus.…
“This layer — this brush — seems to be
very important for the healthy functioning of human airways,” according
to Rubinstein. “It protects cells from sticky mucus, and it creates a
second barrier of defense in case viruses or bacteria penetrate through
the mucus. They would not penetrate through the brush layer because the
brush is denser.”
Prof Stephen Spiro, vice-chairman of the
British Lung Foundation, said: “Mucus has a complex biological
make-up and forms a vital part of the lungs’ defence mechanism against
potentially harmful or irritating substances, which are inhaled as small
particles….
Continue Reading on crev.info
No comments:
Post a Comment