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Tiny hair-like projections on the surface of some cells, which are thus called ‘ciliated’. Coordinated beating of the cilia moves mucus and mucus-like substances (such as the cumulus mass) on the surface of ciliated cells in the direction of the cilial beat. An individual cilium has the same basic sub-microscopic structure as the tail (the flagellum) of a sperm cell (a spermatozoon). See also immotile cilia syndrome.
Copyright © 1998 Robert
Jansen, WH Freeman / Scientific American Books, and Allen &
Unwin. |