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Main Authors: Dey, Supravat, Massiera, Gladys, Pitard, Estelle
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.16770
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author Dey, Supravat
Massiera, Gladys
Pitard, Estelle
author_facet Dey, Supravat
Massiera, Gladys
Pitard, Estelle
contents Large groups of active cilia collectively beat in a fluid medium as metachronal waves, essential for some microorganisms motility and for flow generation in mucociliary clearance. Several models can predict the emergence of metachronal waves, but what controls the properties of metachronal waves is still unclear. Here, we investigate numerically a simple model for cilia in the presence of noise on regular lattices in one- and two-dimensions. We characterize the wave using spatial correlation and the frequency of collective beating. Our results clearly show that the viscosity of the fluid medium does not affect the wavelength; the activity of the cilia does. These numerical results are supported by a dimensional analysis, which is expected to be robust against the model for active force generation, unless surrounding fluid influences the cilia activity. Interestingly, enhancement of cilia activity increases the wavelength and decreases the beating frequency, keeping the wave velocity almost unchanged. These results might have significance in understanding paramecium locomotion and mucociliary clearance diseases.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2310_16770
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Role of cilia activity and surrounding viscous fluid on properties of metachronal waves
Dey, Supravat
Massiera, Gladys
Pitard, Estelle
Soft Condensed Matter
Large groups of active cilia collectively beat in a fluid medium as metachronal waves, essential for some microorganisms motility and for flow generation in mucociliary clearance. Several models can predict the emergence of metachronal waves, but what controls the properties of metachronal waves is still unclear. Here, we investigate numerically a simple model for cilia in the presence of noise on regular lattices in one- and two-dimensions. We characterize the wave using spatial correlation and the frequency of collective beating. Our results clearly show that the viscosity of the fluid medium does not affect the wavelength; the activity of the cilia does. These numerical results are supported by a dimensional analysis, which is expected to be robust against the model for active force generation, unless surrounding fluid influences the cilia activity. Interestingly, enhancement of cilia activity increases the wavelength and decreases the beating frequency, keeping the wave velocity almost unchanged. These results might have significance in understanding paramecium locomotion and mucociliary clearance diseases.
title Role of cilia activity and surrounding viscous fluid on properties of metachronal waves
topic Soft Condensed Matter
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.16770