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Mechanical Aspects of Ciliary Propulsion

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Biomechanics of Active Movement and Division of Cells

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASIH,volume 84))

Abstract

Cilia and eukaryotic flagella are motile cellular organelles, usually between 5/μm and 200 μm long and 0.2 μm in diameter, used to produce relative motion between a cell and its liquid environment. Cilia tend to occur in large numbers (hundreds) on the surfaces of cells, such as Tetrahymena or epithelial cells in the human lung. In contrast, flagellated cells bear small numbers of the organelles, usually one (Crithidia and many spermatozoa) or two (Chlamydomonas), but sometimes four (Trichomonas), eight (Hexamita) or larger numbers (the Hypermastigida). Cilia and eukaryotic flagella have the same basic structure and motile behaviour, so that to avoid repetition, and possible confusion with the prokaryotic flagellum, which has a different structure and mode of action from its eukaryotic counterpart, in this Chapter the eukaryotic organelles will be referred to collectively as cilia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, King’s College London, Strand, London, WC2R 2LS, England

    Michael E. J. Holwill

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  1. Michael E. J. Holwill
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Engineering Sciences, Middle East Technical University, 06531, Ankara, Turkey

    Nuri Akkaş

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© 1994 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Holwill, M.E.J. (1994). Mechanical Aspects of Ciliary Propulsion. In: Akkaş, N. (eds) Biomechanics of Active Movement and Division of Cells. NATO ASI Series, vol 84. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-78975-5_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-78975-5_11

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-78977-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-78975-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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