Experimental surgery on the nose. Changes of the epithelium in the vestibular region at altered airflow.

In 20 rabbits one nostril was closed surgically and the nasal mucosa lying anteriorly in the vestibule was studied 4--90 days postoperatively. On the occluded side, without air-flow, the epithelium--which at this site is normally thickened due to hyperplasia of basal cells--gradually returned to a normal thinner, regular epithelium with increased number of goblet cells. On the patent side, where the airflow was doubled, the cilia were damaged. As early as the 4th day, a process of repair had been initiated, with hyperplasia of basal cells and differentiation of these cells into ciliated and goblet cells. As a result of continued trauma, similar processes continued, but there were no signs of a permanent transformation of the epithelium into squamous epithelium, not even on the 90th day.