Smoking is Associated with Shortened Airway Cilia

Background: Whereas cilia damage and reduced cilia beat frequency have been implicated as causative of reduced mucociliary clearance in smokers, theoretically mucociliary clearance could also be affected by cilia length. Based on models of mucociliary clearance predicting cilia length must exceed the 6 -7 m airway surface fluid depth to generate force in the mucus layer, we hypothesized cilia height may be decreased in airway epithelium of normal smokers compared to nonsmokers.

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Leopold PL, O'Mahony MJ, Lian XJ, Tilley AE, Harvey BG, Crystal RG