New approach may allow real-time monitoring of mucus health in CF
Artificial cilia could offer easier way of capturing its thickness, depth
Researchers have created a new technology to measure the thickness of mucus in the airways, which could aid in monitoring for cystic fibrosis (CF) and other diseases that affect the lungs.
The team, led by scientists at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, described the technology in the study, “Sensory artificial cilia for in situ monitoring of airway physiological properties,” which was published in PNAS.
Mucus is a watery substance that lines the airways and other organs. Normally, mucus plays important roles in keeping the airways moist and helping to prevent infections, but abnormal mucus can gum up the works and interfere with healthy lung function.
CF is characterized by abnormally thick and sticky mucus that can build in the lungs, pancreas, liver, and intestine to cause an array of disease symptoms, from lung infections to digestive problems. Mucus abnormalities also play a role in conditions ranging from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to lung cancer.
Current monitoring of mucus often relies on bronchoscopes and CT scans
Because mucus plays such a key role in lung diseases, it’s important to be able to monitor mucus health in patients’ lungs. But current monitoring technologies rely on bronchoscopes (tubes inserted into the lungs) or high-tech hospital equipment like CT scans. As such, they “lack the ability to provide continuous real-time feedback outside of hospital settings,” the scientists wrote, supporting a need for technology that can monitor mucus health less invasively and, ideally, without a need for hospital visits.
Researchers came up with a possible way to do just that. They were inspired by cilia, which are tiny hair-like structures that line the inside of the lungs. Put simply, the researchers created artificial cilia that can be moved around by a magnetic field generated outside the body. By tracking the movement of the mechanical cilia, the technology can be used to measure how thick or viscous mucus is, as well as how deep a layer of mucus is in the lungs.
“We report an artificial cilium with capacitance sensing for mucus layer thickness, offering unique self-calibration, adjustable sensitivity, and range, all enabled by external magnetic fields,” the scientists wrote.
Currently, the system has been tested in samples of sheep airways that were removed from the animals for studies in a lab, but the researchers are hopeful that this technology could one day be used to track mucus health in people. They said this approach might be especially useful for keeping track of lung stents that are implanted in people with various lung diseases to help keep the airways open.
“The proposed sensing mechanisms and devices pave the way for real-time monitoring of mucus conditions, facilitating early disease detection and providing stent patency alerts, thereby allowing timely interventions and personalized care,” they wrote.
About the Author
