Fig. 4

Mucociliary transport is augmented by HMW-HA. a–h Terminally-differentiated primary HBE monolayers derived from patients with COPD were treated with HMW-HA (0.3%) or an equal volume of vehicle control, then assessed at baseline and after 24 h by µOCT. Representative cross-sectional µOCT images at 24 h after vehicle (a) or HA (c) treatment. EP = epithelial monolayer; ASL depth denoted with yellow bar; F = transwell filter; white scale bar = 20 µm. Streak diagram showing time-dependent reprocessing for vehicle (b) or HA (d) are also shown. The angle of the streaks, as denoted by the red arrow, correspond to MCT rates. Quantitation of airway surface liquid (ASL) depth (e), periciliary layer (PCL) depth (f), ciliary beat frequency (CBF, g), and mucociliary transport (MCT) rate (h). N = 8 monolayers/condition derived from 2 different donors. i MCT from similar study conducted from HBE cells derived from a lung-healthy donor treated with CSE (1%, apically) and vehicle control or HMW-HA (0.3% apically) for 24 h. N = 12 monolayers/condition derived from 3 different donors. ns not significant