Time-dependent changes in nasal ciliary beat frequency

As the ex vivo lifetime of nasal ciliary cells is limited, these cells have to be transferred to a culture medium for analysis with vital cytology immediately. Although the ciliary beat frequency (CBF) is likely to change over time, sufficient data regarding changes in the ex vivo CBF has not been published to date. In the present study, nasal epithelial cells were harvested from the mucosa of the inferior turbinate of 19 healthy volunteers with a cytology brush. Beating cilia were visualized with phase-contrast microscopy. Over a 12-h timeframe, 2 s epochs of video were captured every 5 min from the identical group of cells using a high-speed digital camera with a sampling rate of 100 fps. Temperature was maintained at about 22°C and controlled by an infrared pyrometer. The CBF rapidly increased by 47 ± 53% during the first 3 h of measurement. A relative plateau followed this increase from 3 to 9 h. After 9 h, CBF reduced linearly. After 12 h, the mean frequency reduced to 20 ± 69% of baseline. However, there was considerable variance between the samples. The initial increase in CBF has not been reported previously. This interval seems to be unsuitable for meaningful measurements. Measurements of CBF are most reliable during the plateau phase between 3 and 9 h. After 9 h, there is clearly a significant decrease in CBF, together with a considerable interindividual variance.