Mucociliary clearance affected by mucus–periciliary interface stimulations using analytical solution during cough and sneeze

Abstract

Assessment of mucus velocity variations under different conditions including viscosity variation and boundary conditions is useful to develop mucosal-based medical treatments. This paper deals with the analytical investigation of mucus–periciliary velocities under mucus–periciliary interface movements and mucus viscosity variations. The results for mucus velocity show that there is no difference between the two cases under the free-slip condition. Therefore, power-law mucus can be substituted with a high viscosity Newtonian fluid since the upper boundary of the mucus layer is exposed to the free-slip condition. However, when the upper boundary of the mucus layer is under nonzero shear stress levels, including cough or sneeze, the assumption of a high viscosity Newtonian mucus layer is invalid. Moreover, mucus viscosity variations are investigated for both Newtonian and power-law mucus layers under sneeze and cough to propose a mucosal-based medical treatment. The results indicate by varying mucus viscosity up to a critical value, the direction of mucus movement changes. The critical values of viscosity in sneezing and coughing for Newtonian and power-law mucus layers are 10–4 and 5 × 10–5 and 0.0263 and 006.024 m2 s−1, respectively. Therefore, the pathogen entry into the respiratory system can be prevented by varying mucus viscosity during sneeze and cough.