PMID: 6111276Jan 1, 1980Paper

Mucociliary drainage of the respiratory tract

Annales de l'anesthésiologie française
J Hee

Abstract

Mechanical cleansing of the airways is related, on the one hand, to the amount and physicochemical qualities of the mucus and, secondly, to ciliary activity. Mobilisation of mucus is ensured by polarisation and coordination of ciliary movements. The speed of the mucosal "conveyor belt" depends, amongst other things, on th frequency of ciliary beating movements. The latter may be modified by various physiological factors including temperature, carbon dioxide, cations, pH, certain chemical mediators, in particular acetylcholine, but also by numerous harmful agents present in the air, such as irritant pollutants, viruses or bacterial toxins. This action may result in pathological states. It has also been possible to demonstrate changes in mucociliary drainage due to a certain number of iatrogenic factors. Thus, from a certain concentration upwards, general anesthetics (barbiturates, halothane) and local anesthetics (Xylocaine) have a depressant effect. Similarly, anticholinergic agents are capable of slowing mucosal transport by acting at one and the same time on ciliary activity and the secretion of mucus. Certain pharmaceutical preparations with a local action are cilio-inhibitory either by virtue of their excessively acid pH or...Continue Reading

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