The ciliary activity of the middle ear lining in some pathological states

The ciliary activity in some pathological middle ear lining was discussed with special reference to the morphology of the epithelial cells in this paper. The changes in ciliary activity due to in vitro Staphylococcus aureus injection did not practically show any differences between the sites. On the other hand, the time-course changes in ciliary activity after in vivo S. aureus injection were found to differ between the sites. Ciliary activity was rather accelerated at the proximal site, while it was decelerated at the distal site. Few changes but for sporadic small compound cilia were observed at the proximal site, and some inflammatory changes were noted at the epithelium of the distal site. SO2 exposure affected the middle ear lining of rabbits. Fourteen days after 4 week's exposure to SO2, the middle ear lining displayed declined ciliary activity and many signs suggestive of secretory asthenia. In addition, the middle ear lining of rabbits given about 600 mg carbocysteine, both during and 2 weeks after the exposure displayed excellent ciliary activity and normal morphology of the epithelial structure.