The recently introduced frog olfactory cilia preparation (Chen and Lancet, 1984; Pace et al., 1985) has been useful for studies of molecular chemosensory mechanisms. Here we describe in detail the properties of this cilia preparation. The "calcium shock" procedure leads to a complete removal of the cilia from the olfactory epithelial surface. Isolated cilia constitute segments of proximal regio...

Fluid mechanics plays a vital role in early vertebrate embryo development, an example being the establishment of left-right asymmetry. Following the dorsal-ventral and anterior-posterior axes, the left-right axis is the last to be established; in several species it has been shown that an important process involved with this is the production of a left-right asymmetric flow driven by ‘whirling’ ...

Primary cilia play critical roles in many aspects of biology. Specialized versions of primary cilia are involved in many aspects of sensation. The single photoreceptor sensory cilium (PSC) or outer segment elaborated by each rod and cone photoreceptor cell of the retina is a classic example. Mutations in genes that encode cilia components are common causes of disease, including retinal degenera...

Active oscillators, with purely hydrodynamic coupling, are useful simple models to understand various aspects of motile cilia synchronization. Motile used by microorganisms swim and control the flow fields in their surroundings; patterns observed carpets can be remarkably complex, changed over time organism. It is often not known what extent coupling between due just forces, neither it if biolo...

Cellular appendages conferring motility, such as flagella or cilia, are known to synchronise their periodic beats. The origin of synchronisation is a combination long-range hydrodynamic interactions with physical mechanisms allowing the phases these biological oscillators evolve. Two have been identified by previous work, elastic compliance orbit oscillations driven phase-dependent forcing. To ...

Tissue engineering-based therapies targeting cartilage diseases, such as osteoarthritis, require in vitro expansion of articular chondrocytes. A major obstacle for these therapies is the dedifferentiation and loss of phenotype accompanying chondrocyte expansion. Recent studies suggest that manipulation of hedgehog signalling may be used to promote chondrocyte re-differentiation. Hedgehog signal...