Ezrin knockdown reduces procaterol-stimulated ciliary beating without morphological changes in mouse airway cilia.

Mucociliary clearance, which is conducted by beating cilia cooperating with the surface mucous layer, is a major host defense mechanism of the airway epithelium. Ezrin, a crosslinker between membrane proteins and the actin cytoskeleton, is located in microvilli and around the basal bodies in airway ciliary cells. It is also likely that ezrin plays an important role in apical localization of β2 adrenergic receptor (β2AR) in airway ciliary cells.

Airway Ciliary Beating Affected by the Dose-Dependent [Ca] Increase in Down Syndrome Mice, Ts1Rhr.

In Ts1Rhr, a Down syndrome model mouse, the airway ciliary beatings are impaired; that is, decreases in ciliary beat frequency (CBF) and ciliary bend angle (CBA, an index of ciliary beat amplitude)). A resumption to two copies of the gene on the Ts1Rhr trisomic segment (Ts1Rhr:) rescues the decreases in CBF and CBA that occur in Ts1Rhr. In airway cilia, upon stimulation with procaterol (a β-agonist), the CBF increase is slower over the time course than the CBA increase because of cAMP degradation by Ca/calmodulin-dependent phosphodiesterase 1 (PDE1) existing in the metabolon regulating CBF.

Enhancement of ciliary beat amplitude by carbocisteine in ciliated human nasal epithelial cells.

Objective: Carbocisteine (CCis), a mucoactive agent, is used to improve the symptoms of sinonasal diseases. However, the effect of CCis on nasal ciliary beating remains uncertain. We examined the effects of CCis on ciliary beat distance (CBD, an index of amplitude), and ciliary beat frequency (CBF) in ciliated human nasal epithelial cells (cHNECs) in primary culture.

Ciliary beating amplitude controlled by intracellular Cl and a high rate of CO production in ciliated human nasal epithelial cells.

The ciliary transport is controlled by two parameters of the ciliary beating, frequency (CBF) and amplitude. In this study, we developed a novel method to measure both CBF and ciliary bend distance (CBD, an index of ciliary beating amplitude) in ciliated human nasal epithelial cells (cHNECs) in primary culture, which are prepared from patients contracting allergic rhinitis and chronic sinusitis. An application of Cl-free NO solution or bumetanide (an inhibitor of Na/K/2Cl cotransport), which decreases intracellular Cl concentration ([Cl]), increased CBD, not CBF, at 37 °C; however, it increased both CBD and CBF at 25 °C.

Daidzein-Stimulated Increase in the Ciliary Beating Amplitude via an [Cl] Decrease in Ciliated Human Nasal Epithelial Cells.

The effects of the isoflavone daidzein on the ciliary beat distance (CBD, which is a parameter assessing the amplitude of ciliary beating) and the ciliary beat frequency (CBF) were examined in ciliated human nasal epithelial cells (cHNECs) in primary culture. Daidzein decreased [Cl] and enhanced CBD in cHNECs. The CBD increase that was stimulated by daidzein was mimicked by Cl-free NO₃ solution and bumetanide (an inhibitor of Na⁺/K⁺/2Cl cotransport), both of which decreased [Cl] Moreover, the CBD increase was inhibited by 5-Nitro-2-(3-phenylpropylamino)benzoic acid (NPPB, a Cl channel blocker), which increased [Cl].