Influenza virus and ciliary beating of the respiratory epithelium in sensitized animals

Normally, under good survival conditions, the ciliary beating can be observed and recorded during hours after dissection of the respiratory epithelium. When laboratory animals have been immunized locally against influenza virus (under delayed type hypersensitivity conditions) the ciliary beating stops within 3 to 6 minutes when the same virus is put in contact with the sensitized mucosa. The specificity and the immunological conditions of this stopping have been analyed and the practical importance of this new test in cellular immunology is discussed.