Mucociliary streaming is the process of the cleaning mechanism of the respiratory passage. It is one of the protective process that protects the respiratory passage from the effect of the particles of dust and pathogens before they reach up to the delicate lung tissues. This process maintains the pulmonary hygiene.
This takes the advantage of cleaning up the cilia present in the respiratory tract, this process penetrates the mucous layer of the cilia by wave-like motion. The cilia trap the large and small particles. The instrument used for this purpose moves at a speed of 6 to 20mm per minute. This helps in cleaning up of the cilia along with the mucous.
Whenever a person breathes air, some particulate material gets deposited in respiratory tracts. There is a certain limit on the size and the density of the particles beyond which particles need to be removed from the tract. The size of the particles deposited ranges between 1 to 2 microns. The particles deposited above alveoli with in the respiratory tracts are removed by moving mucus layer into the gastro -intestinal tract. This movement of mucus is assisted by ciliary structures and hence it is called ciliary streaming
And the rate of cilia beating ranges between 1000 -1500 per minute
