Functional analysis and evaluation of respiratory cilia in healthy Chinese children.
BACKGROUND
To aid in the diagnosis of Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia (PCD) and to evaluate the respiratory epithelium in respiratory disease, normal age-related reference ranges are needed for ciliary beat frequency (CBF), beat pattern and ultrastructure. Our aim was to establish reference ranges for healthy Chinese children.


METHODS
Ciliated epithelial samples were obtained from 135 healthy Chinese children aged below 18 years by brushing the inferior nasal turbinate. CBF and beat pattern were analysed from high speed video recordings. Epithelial integrity and ciliary ultrastructure were assessed using transmission electronic microscopy.


RESULTS
The mean CBF from 135 children studied was 10.1 Hz (95% CI 9.8 to 10.4). Approximately 20% (ranged 18.0-24.2%) of ciliated epithelial edges were found to have areas of dyskinetically beating cilia. Normal beat pattern was observed in ciliated epithelium from all subjects. We did not find any effect of exposure to second hand smoke on CBF in our subjects. Microtubular defects were found in 9.3% of all of the cilia counted in these children, while other ciliary ultrastructural defects were found in less than 3%.


CONCLUSIONS
We established the reference range for CBF, beat pattern and ultrastructure in healthy Chinese children. Using similar methodology, we found a lower overall mean CBF than previously obtained European values. This study highlights the need to establish normative data for ciliary function in different populations.
['Lee|So-Lun|SL|http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3056-9778', "O'Callaghan|Christopher|C|", 'Lau|Yu-Lung|YL|', 'Lee|Chun-Wai Davy|CD|']
D000293:Adolescent D000328:Adult D044466:Asians D002648:Child D002675:Child, Preschool D002923:Cilia D005260:Female D006723:Hong Kong D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008854:Microscopy, Electron D008875:Middle Aged D009297:Nasal Mucosa D018034:Olfactory Receptor Neurons D020545:Respiratory Mucosa D014741:Video Recording D055815:Young Adult
Chinese children Beat frequency Beat pattern Ultrastructure Nasal cilia Reference data