We present an innovative platform designed to mimic the mucociliary clearance system, an essential defense mechanism in the respiratory tract. Our system utilizes PDMS and iron powder to fabricate micro-ciliary arrays that dynamically respond to alternating magnetic fields. The cilia exhibit an asymmetric beating pattern under a cyclically varying magnetic field, which propels microspheres directionally in a fluid medium, simulating the movement of mucus. We use both experimental setups and numerical simulations to investigate factors that influence the efficiency of particle transport, such as cilia beating frequency, microsphere size, cilia density, and fluid viscosity. Our results elucidate the role of artificial cilia in surface cleaning processes and provide insights that enhance our understanding of mucociliary clearance. This novel experimental platform holds great promise for advancing research in respiratory health and microchannel cleaning technologies, and contributes to our ability to model and study human respiratory function in vitro.

中文翻译：

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设计用于微球运输的磁响应人工纤毛阵列平台的设计。


我们提出了一个创新平台，旨在模拟粘膜纤毛清除系统，这是呼吸道中必不可少的防御机制。我们的系统利用 PDMS 和铁粉来制造动态响应交变磁场的微纤毛阵列。纤毛在周期性变化的磁场下表现出不对称的跳动模式，该磁场在流体介质中定向推动微球，模拟粘液的运动。我们使用实验装置和数值模拟来研究影响颗粒传输效率的因素，例如纤毛跳动频率、微球大小、纤毛密度和流体粘度。我们的结果阐明了人工纤毛在表面清洁过程中的作用，并提供了增强我们对粘膜纤毛清除的理解的见解。这个新颖的实验平台为推进呼吸健康和微通道清洁技术的研究带来了巨大的希望，并有助于我们在体外建模和研究人类呼吸功能的能力。