Experimental artifacts in the study of mucociliary transport

Mucociliary transport was studied on frog palate epithelium preparations. Three preparations were used: the detached palate preparation (prepared by detaching the upper part of the head from the frog), the live frog preparation (prepared by exposing the palate of a sedated live frog), and the thin preparation (prepared by excising a 1-mm thin section). Because the transport behavior in each of the 3 preparations is different, extirpation or sedation or excision, or all 3, introduce artifacts into the system.