Mucociliary function of chronic inflammation in upper and lower airways.

Abstract

Mucociliary function was examined to investigate the association of chronic inflammation in the upper and lower airways in four groups of subjects. They were composed of: 1) non-inflammatory subjects (control group), 2) patients with chronic sinusitis (S group), 3) patients with chronic bronchitis (B group), and 4) patients with chronic sinusitis and bronchitis (SB group). Mucociliary clearance (MCC), ciliary beat frequency (CBF) in the nose and left main bronchus and dynamic viscoelasticity (DVE) of these airway fluids were examined. Significant prolongation of nasal MCC in the S and SB groups were observed compared with the control group. CBF in the nose of the S, B, and SB groups were not different from that of the control group. DVE of nasal mucus in the S, B, and SB groups were higher than that in the control group. Significantly diminished bronchial MCC in the B and SB groups were observed compared with the control group. CBF of the bronchus was within normal range in all examined subjects. DVE of tracheobronchial mucus in the S, B, and SB groups were higher than that in the control group. It was suggested that high viscoelasticity of the tracheobronchial mucus in patients with chronic sinusitis and of the nasal mucus in patients with chronic bronchitis may be one of the causes of sinobronchitis.