Swine Dust Inhalation Alters Lung Cilia Function

June 11, 2008 — 

Researcher Todd A. Wyatt (University of Nebraska Medical Center, USA) and his colleagues hypothesized that dust from a swine confinement facility would affect the cilia in the human respiratory tract thus affecting their ability to move mucus.

Using a cultured ciliated cell model, the authors of this study conclude that swine confinement facility dust does indeed affect cilia and its ability to clear mucus.

Exposing epithelial cells to swine confinement facility dust initially causes a slight increase in the speed at which the cilia beat. However, when a substance known to make the cilia beat faster under normal circumstances is added to dust-treated cells, the cilia do not beat faster.

Upon mechanistic inspection, the American team finds that both nitric oxide and interleukin-8 found in the dust regulated these cilia effects.

Source:
Medical News Today