Characterization of upper airway ciliary beat by coupling isolated and collective cilia motion analysis

Methods Ciliated cells issued from nasal brushing (controls and primary ciliary dyskinesia patients) were recorded by high-speed video-microscopy (350 frames s). We have performed an original quantitative analysis of ciliary beat dynamics (CBD) by following cilium tips. It allows to describe different parameters including ciliary beat frequency also measured by Fast-Fourier-Transform and Video-Kymography. We have also developed the microbeads tracking method (MBT) to get an index of the global efficiency of ciliary beat. Here, micro-beads (4.5 μm) have been used as markers of the flow generated by beating cilia.