Respiratory cilia push the mucus out of the airways to clear them. The authors show that spatial heterogeneity of ciliated cells has a minor effect on the efficiency of the process, but this is drastically compromised when cilia beating orientations are misaligned or in presence of diseased conditions like cells death or cilia immotility.
- Émeline Laborie
- Simone Melchionna
- Fabio Sterpone
