Absence of cilia and basal bodies with predominance of brush cells in the respiratory mucosa from a patient with immotile cilia syndrome

This report describes the ultrastructural alterations observed in the tracheal epithelium of a 13-year-old male with a history of recurrent pneumonia, chronic bronchitis, chronic otitis media, and situs inversus. The epithelium consisted of globlet and basal cells with many columnar cells that lacked cilia and basal bodies. The surface of these cells had regular microvilli and cytoplasmic features typical of brush cells.