Mucociliary transport and ultrastructural abnormalities in Polynesian bronchiectasis.
Ciliated bronchial or nasal epithelium from 20 Polynesian bronchiectatic patients was examined in an electron microscope. In all patients there was a partial or complete loss of dynein arms. Also, in many patients other ciliary abnormalities were present with a high proportion, often over 25%, of cilia affected. This contrasts with a control group where ciliary abnormalities were infrequent. Mucociliary clearance, measured by imaging 99mTc sulfide dust with a gamma camera, was either absent or markedly reduced in these bronchiectatic patients.
D001980:Bronchi / Q000648:ultrastructure; D001987:Bronchiectasis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002923:Cilia / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000503:physiopathology; D009093:Mucus / Q000502:physiology; D009297:Nasal Mucosa / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D009520:New Zealand; D011114:Polynesia / Q000208:ethnology