PubMed · 10832208
The source did not provide an abstract. Follow the original record for more information.
Explore connections, maps & timelines
A Ahmadizadeh. 2000. Explaining ciliary function to patients.. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10832208/
Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.
KEEP EXPLORING
The diagnosis of primary ciliary dyskinesia is based on demonstration of ciliary defects, mainly concerning dynein arms. Whereas the absence of outer dynein arms can be easily distinguished, the absence of inner dynein arms is difficult to confirm because of their low contrast on electron microscopy. Ciliary ultrastructure was studied in 40 patients suffering from respiratory tract infections. Conventional transmission electron microscopy showed normal cilia in 6 patients, confirmed a diagnosis of primary ciliary dyskinesia in 26 patients, and was inconclusive in 8 patients. All doubtful cases were related to inner dynein arm determination. Conventional electron microscopic analysis was able to define the ultrastructural phenotype of inner dynein arms in 40.5% of cases (6 presence of inner dynein arms, 13 absence of inner dynein arms). We developed computer-assisted analysis of electron microscopic micrographs to improve inner dynein arm visualization. Computer-assisted analysis consisted of image transformations designed to enhance the signal/noise ratio, based on the symmetry of ciliary axonemes. The sensitivity and specificity of computer-assisted analysis were 100 and 98%, respectively. The efficiency of computer-assisted analysis to visualize inner dynein arms, evaluated in the patients with undetermined phenotype after electron microscopy, was 86% (three normal cilia, seven primary ciliary dyskinesia with absence of outer dynein arms, three primary ciliary dyskinesia with absence of inner dynein arms, five partial absence of inner dynein arms). Computer-assisted analysis of ciliary micrographs improves the characterization of inherited axonemal defects.
BACKGROUND: The airway cilia of patients with primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) exhibit several anomalies when studied by transmission electron microscopy, but little is known about the ultrastructural organisation of ciliary membranes in these patients. Freeze fracture replication of airway epithelium from patients with PCD provides a means of achieving high resolution views of cell membrane structure. Ciliary necklaces are a specialised structural feature of ciliary membranes thought to serve as a timing mechanism for ciliary beat, and their characterisation in the cilia of patients with PCD may contribute new insights into the pathophysiology of this syndrome. METHODS: The nasal epithelium of three patients with PCD was freeze fractured and replicated with platinum and carbon shadowing. The resultant preparations were examined by transmission electron microscopy and the ciliary necklaces were compared with similar preparations of nasal biopsy specimens from normal healthy subjects. RESULTS: The ciliary necklaces of the three patients with PCD were normal with no overt differences from those of healthy individuals. CONCLUSIONS: The defective ciliary motility observed in patients with PCD does not appear to result from membrane dysfunction associated with overt disorganisation of ciliary necklace structure.
Primay ciliary dyskinesia is a rare autosomal recessive disorder, characterized by abnormal ciliary structure and function and chronic lung, sinus and middle ear disease. A 45-year-old man with a history of recurrent respiratory infections, which was developped in the adult age, and was presented with moderate clinical involvement, and spermatic hypomotility in seminogram. Diagnosis and differential diagnosis was based on the typical clinical picture and the electron microscopical demonstration of ultrastructural abnormalities. We found abnormal number of cilia on the bronchial mucosa cells and the ciliary structure was abnormal too. We observed abnormally short dynein arms and defective radial spokes.