Abstract
In experiment, ultrastructure and character of glycoconjugates produced by secretory cells of the airway epithelium were studied after 10-min. inhalation of saline aerosol. The target cells for the function of saline were the goblet cells.
These cells were overstimulated and the mechanism of mucus evacuation was accelerated. The exhausted goblet cells mostly took part in further secretory cycles.
Massive differentiation of new secretory elements caused changes in the secretory cells' distribution. More than 30 % of goblet cells participated in the formation of intraepithelial mucous glands.
Tiny changes in the composition of glycoconjugates in the goblet cells' secretion were not significant. In the ciliated cells' cytoplasm, mild pathological alteration was revealed.
In the area of the ciliary border, significant decrease in the mean number of kinocilia was accompanied by slight, but significant increase in percentage of altered cilia and by appearance of early morphological signs of impaired self-cleaning ability of the epithelium.