An ex vivo technique for imaging mouse airway epithelia for quantitative analysis of motile
cilia function important for insight into mucociliary clearance function has been established.
Freshly harvested mouse trachea is cut longitudinally through the trachealis muscle and
mounted in a shallow walled chamber on a glass-bottomed dish. The trachea sample is
positioned along its long axis to take advantage of the trachealis muscle to curl
longitudinally. This allows imaging of ciliary motion in the profile view along the entire …