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A Comparison of the Elemental Concentrations Obtained using X-ray Microanalysis of Bulk Cryofractured and Ultrathin Cryosectioned Mucus Layer of the Airway Surface Liquid in Mouse Trachea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

C.A. Ackerley
Affiliation:
Division of Pathology , Toronto, Ontario, Canada. , M5G1X8
G. Kent
Affiliation:
Research Institute, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. M5G1X8
Y.M. Heng
Affiliation:
Division of Pathology , Toronto, Ontario, Canada. , M5G1X8
A. Tilups
Affiliation:
Division of Pathology , Toronto, Ontario, Canada. , M5G1X8
L.E. Becker
Affiliation:
Division of Pathology , Toronto, Ontario, Canada. , M5G1X8
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Abstract

The airways are lined with a thin film consisting of two layers. A watery layer, the airway surface liquid (ASL) surrounds the cilia and its major function is to serve as a medium for ciliary boating of mucus out of the respiratory system. The other layer is a viscous mucus layer consisting mainly of airway cellular secretions and cellular debris.

The composition and effects of altered concentrations of the constitutive elements in the ASL and mucus layer remain a mystery. in human patients, attempts have been made to determine the composition of these layers by sampling with a filter paper by touching it to the mucosa and wetting it by capillary action. This material was then removed from the filter paper and quantitative analyses using energy dispersive x-ray spectrometry (EDS) and a Hall’s thin film correction routine performed on the residue. Although differences were detected between normal and pathological material, these results did not reflect the composition of the individual layers but an average of both.

Attempts have been made to determine the elemental composition of these layers in intact and in cultured rabbit trachea, bovine trachea and hamster trachea.

Type
Biological Microanalysis
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2001

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