STUDIES ON TRACHEAL CILIARY ACTIVITY - SPECIAL REFERENCE TO EFFECT OF CIGARETTE SMOKE IN LIVING ANIMALS

Abstract

The development of a method to estimate the ciliary frequency in different species of animal in vivo is reported. The method involves the use of a microscope with incident light and a movie camera with a frame speed of 220 per second. The ciliary frequency of rabbits recorded with this method is found to be about 1,100 beats per minute, with an inter-animal deviation of 130 beats per minute and an intra-animal deviation of 40 beats per minute. No change in ciliary activity was found during a 2-hour observation period, which indicates that the experimental conditions themselves did not affect the ciliary frequency. Also described is a smoke dosage machine which allows exposure to tobacco smoke under nearly realistic and physiologic conditions. By using the described techniques, the ciliostatic effect of smoke from filter-tipped and non-filter cigarettes was observed in cats. Three of 5 animals receiving smoke from non-filter cigarettes showed complete stoppage of the ciliary beat after exposure to 5 cigarettes, and 1 animal, after 6 cigarettes. The animals receiving smoke from filter-tipped cigarettes showed unaltered ciliary frequency after exposure to 8 cigarettes.