The delivery mechanism for the inhalation manoevre had not been perfected, and one volunteer inhaled some rather large water droplets containing the Technegas particles.  Twelve frames were collected over a period of 76 minutes taking four frames of four minutes, followed by eight frames of eight minutes.  The resulting animated image sequence demonstrates the mucociliary escalator very clearly.   The "waving effect" at the upper end of the trachea is due to the subject turning his head from time to time to view the screen!   Note the activity in the stomach as it is cleared from the lung, and the peripheral portion of the lung where the activity has penetrated below the escalator which finishes at the 16th division of the bronchial tree.

Back to Technegas index The Technegas website is hosted by the John Curtin School of Medical Research and the School accepts the assurance of the contact person, Dr Bill Burch that content complies with rules for material published on its servers and ANU networked computers. JCSMR Web Manager. March 31, 2003