Abstract
THE rate of vibration of cilia is usually too great to permit of accurate observation with an ordinary microscope unless the light be interrupted at a suitable frequency and for suitable periods of time. If the frequency of vibration be approximately fourteen or more beats per second, the form of each cilium during the two phases of its beat, and the nature of the metachronal waves which pass over the epithelium, can be readily observed by means of a suitable stroboscope. If, however, the frequency of vibration is lower than ten per second, accurate observations of this type are impossible owing to the low intensity of illumination which is necessary to reduce flicker to a convenient level. In such cases permanent records of individual cilia or of the metachronal waves can be made by synchronising, with a variable speed stroboscope, the shutter of an ordinary cinematograph camera; in this way slow motion records of rapidly vibrating cilia can be obtained, and the frequency and velocity of beat can be determined with accuracy.
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GRAY, J. A New Method of Recording Ciliary Movement. Nature 123, 86 (1929). https://doi.org/10.1038/123086a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/123086a0
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