News in the examination of the ciliary activity in the respiratory tract mucosa

: Ciliary activity assessment attracts a great interest and has undergone dynamic progress since the last decades. The ciliary function is typically impaired in primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD). The cilia are mostly examined in vitro, the sample is taken away from the nasal mucosa. Digital videomicroscopy is accessible for the cilia observation in vitro and represents a gold standard. Manual reading using this method is lengthy in comparison with a photomultiplier. Using the photomultiplier, light captured in an optical fibre is analysed automatically by a computer. With technological progress other methods gain ground such as automatical analysis of variance of grey degrees or photomultiplier connected with a scanning confocal microscope. A medium 199 is mostly used for preservation of the functioning cilia. To retain ciliary beat frequency (CBF) it is necessary to use a heated microscope stage. Average physiological CBF value is 11.5 Hz in adult population and 12.8 Hz in children.