The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the ciliary beat frequency (CBF) is influenced by the nasal cycle. Nasal patency was assessed by active anterior rhinomanometry and immediately followed by measuring CBF in biopsies taken from the posterior aspect of the inferior turbinates in 22 healthy volunteers. CBF was determined in three different cells of each biopsy by means of a phase-contrast microscope and a photo-electrical cell. The signal was analyzed by a computed power spectrum. The frequency and its shift were calculated for a period of 20 s. The results were as follows: (1) no correlation was found between CBF and nasal patency; (2) CBF in one cell is constant to a high degree; (3) CBF of different cells in the same biopsy specimen varies considerably.

No abstract

The movement of normal human nasal cilia was analyzed. Ciliary beat was recorded by means of a phase-contrast microscope equipped with a photodetector. The electrical signal was analyzed as follows: i) a power spectrum was calculated in order to measure ciliary beat frequency (CBF), ii) the beat cycles were averaged and the standard deviation of the waveform was computed to determine signal consistency (SC), and iii) the ratio of the duration of the smooth to that of the steep part of the cycles was measured. This was done under three different conditions: 1) normal or "initial", 2) after induction of "function loss", and 3) after "salbutamol stimulation". At "function loss," the cilia beat slower and with less harmony. CBF decreased from an average of 9.0 Hz in the "initial" condition to 5.8 Hz. SC decreased from an average of 5.7 to 1.9. After "salbutamol stimulation", average CBF was partially restored to 7.7 Hz, while average SC increased to 4.4. These findings indicate that in ciliary function studies, SC, as a measure for ciliary beat harmony, may be introduced alongside CBF as a second valuable parameter. In this study we were not able to identify different phases in the signal that might be used as a third parameter to indicate the effective and the recovery stroke.