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Ling, F. ; Essock-Burns, T.* ; McFall-Ngai, M.* ; Katija, K.* ; Nawroth, J. ; Kanso, E.*

Flow physics guides morphology of ciliated organs.

Nat. Phys., DOI: 10.1038/s41567-024-02591-0 (2024)
DOI
: Postprint online available 03/2025
Organs that pump luminal fluids by the coordinated beat of motile cilia are integral to animal physiology. Such organs include the human airways, brain ventricles and reproductive tracts. Although cilia organization and duct morphology vary drastically in the animal kingdom, ducts are typically classified as carpet or flame designs. The reason behind the appearance of these two different designs and how they relate to fluid pumping remain unclear. Here, we demonstrate that two structural parameters—lumen diameter and cilia-to-lumen ratio—organize the observed duct diversity into a continuous spectrum that connects carpets to flames across all animal phyla. Using a unified fluid model, we show that carpets and flames represent trade-offs between flow rate and pressure generation. We propose that the convergence of ciliated organ designs follows functional constraints rather than phylogenetic distance and offer guiding design principles for synthetic ciliary pumps.
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Publication type Article: Journal article
Document type Scientific Article
Corresponding Author
Keywords Excretory System; Neural Gland; Transport; Patterns; Regeneration; Sponges; Model
ISSN (print) / ISBN 1745-2473
e-ISSN 1745-2481
Journal Nature Physics
Publisher Springer
Publishing Place Heidelberger Platz 3, Berlin, 14197, Germany
Non-patent literature Publications
Reviewing status Peer reviewed
Institute(s) Helmholtz Pioneer Campus (HPC)
Institute of Biological and Medical Imaging (IBMI)
Grants European Research Council (ERC)
National Science Foundation
National Institutes of Health
European Research Council
COBRE
David & Lucile Packard Foundation
National Science Foundation (DBI)
Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, Inc.)