Mucociliary clearance affected by mucus-periciliary interface stimulations using analytical solution during cough and sneeze.

Abstract

Assessment of mucus velocity variations under different conditions including viscosity variation and boundary conditions is useful to develop mucosal-based medical treatments. This paper deals with the analytical investigation of mucus-periciliary velocities under mucus-periciliary interface movements and mucus viscosity variations. The results for mucus velocity show that there is no difference between the two cases under the free-slip condition. Therefore, power-law mucus can be substituted with a high viscosity Newtonian fluid since the upper boundary of the mucus layer is exposed to the free-slip condition. However, when the upper boundary of the mucus layer is under nonzero shear stress levels, including cough or sneeze, the assumption of a high viscosity Newtonian mucus layer is invalid. Moreover, mucus viscosity variations are investigated for both Newtonian and power-law mucus layers under sneeze and cough to propose a mucosal-based medical treatment. The results indicate by varying mucus viscosity up to a critical value, the direction of mucus movement changes. The critical values of viscosity in sneezing and coughing for Newtonian and power-law mucus layers are 10-4 and 5 × 10-5 and 0.0263 and 006.024 m2s-1, respectively. Therefore, the pathogen entry into the respiratory system can be prevented by varying mucus viscosity during sneeze and cough.