[Comparative study of tracheal organ cultures obtained from different bird donors]

Comparative studies were carried out on the quality (duration, intensity, and extent) of the cliliary activity in tracheal cultures from chick embryos, chickens, and pheasants. It was found that all cultures had long life, however, they were shown to differ essentially by the function of the tracheal epithelium. In tracheal cultures from pheasants the ciliary activity remained unchanged at the initial level for 70 days. In those from-day-old chicks it remained for 15 days, and cultures from 20-day-old chick embryos showed activity for 25 days. In the second and third type of tracheal cultures the ciliary activity gradually dropped by intensity and scope down to nil within the periods of time mentioned. The ciliary activity of tracheal segments cultured in tubes of a roller apparatus persisted for a considerably longer period than that of segments stationary cultured in petri dishes. The same result was obtained when the explanted trachea was treated with a mycolytic agent (bromhexinehydrochloride), although cultivation was carried out in petri dishes. The high quality (intensity and scope) and duration (70 days) of the ciliary activity of tracheal cultures from pheasants provides an excellent system for the study of the ciliostatic effect on different viruses.