MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

This may be the wrong forum to ask this question and it’s a little less than polite but I was wondering what the blue fibers are in my nasal secretions (nice way of saying it). Are they nasal cilia that are being shed ? Do cilia have a blue color? 25xw eyepiece with 10x objective a scope camera. I recently had loss of smell blamed on an extremely well known condition. Not the most appealing way to introduce yourself but my name is Dan.

Presumably just threads inhaled and filtered by nasal-hairs by design?

Agree. Fiber, maybe from a mask.

Have not worn a mask since June. Another day another fiber..Both these are from an examination scope, the second is with the fiber isolated from the secretion. Placed on a new slide with slip cover on my compound microscope. Then turned up the magnification. Last image is the best I achieved before switching to the 40x objective disturbed the slip cover Is my wife trying to smother me with a blue pillow in my sleep?

Take a look at a ray of sunlight coming through a window, and see what dust looks like. A lot of it is colored fibers from clothes. Lint is fine and gets everywhere. You'll see a lot of it under the scope, especially if you don't meticulously clean your samples (similar deal with pine pollen this part of the world during allergy season).

Messed up the photos

Thinking about environment, I have three girls whose favorite things include glitter and ribbons. That would be the most likely source. It is a shame in that I was hoping to find something related to my loss of smell like the shedding of nasal cilia. It makes sense that something with such a bright color would be artificial. Cilia are likely translucent and would probably have to be stained

It's a little hard to judge the scale, but these seem to be by far the wrong size to be cilia, by maybe a couple of orders of magnitude. They appear to be on the scale of macroscopic hairs; their diameter appears to be at least a cell width.

Cilia are subcellular structures; they're usually below a micron in size. One reference I saw noted that detached respiratory cilia are comparable in size to bacterial bacilli, if that gives you an impression of the resolution you would need to see them; I'd expect the full length of a detatched cilium to be around a quarter of the *diameter* of the fibres you've shown. I would not expect to see them at all on a dissection scope.

Also, the cytoskeletal structure of a cilium is microtubules covered by cell membrane; you're right that without a stain like Eosin they would appear transparent.

Welcome snmbsc- this is snot a very nice introduction to yourself! Jokes aside sorry to hear you got the loss of smell post covid-must make eating weird-I’ve read articles about naval fluff mostly being blue-do you wear a lot of blue shirts?-the fibres are strikingly flat almost like microscopic audio tape-do you have blue synthetic fibres in the home like carpet or curtains or pillow case? You could be inhaling pillow case fibres all night! It’s like a mini crime scene investigation- though I don’t think fibre evidence can be entered into court anymore…keep exploring-I’m investigating microbes in insects poo currently-Twiggy my pet stick insect has some interesting amoebas in her gut biome….
Regards ross

The fibers do look quite extraordinarily tape-like …
Might this be a possibility ?
https://fiberjournal.com/band-shaped-sm ... s-apparel/

MichaelG.

I think this is the culprit or something like it. This is from the room of one of my girls. The phenomenon of micro-plastics is a real concern not just for the oceans. At least I know my wife is in the clear. Thanks for all the responses. I will try to make my next post a little less gross .

Hey snmbsc I trust the forum can handle gross! In regards to micro plastics I wonder if studies have been done about microbes that break them down-I guess UV does too.. and mechanical action-Also I’ve always wondered about the tonnage of tiny particles from all the soles of synthetic shoes entering the environment-at least leather soles would have decomposed quite quickly..Glitter also has a way of appearing months after the party has ended…
Hope you get your smell back.
Regards ross

YOU WOULD BE SURPRISED WHAT PEOPLE INHALE.