Microrheology of gel-forming airway mucins isolated from porcine trachea.

ABSTRACT: Mucus produced in the lungs has important protective barrier functions that strongly depend on its biomolecular composition, biopolymer network architecture, and viscoelastic properties. However, to date, there has yet to be a readily available source of reconstituted, gel-forming mucins from the lungs to model and study its biophysical properties. To address this, we established an in-house procedure to extract airway mucins from pig trachea with minimal DNA contamination consisting of ∼70% by weight protein. Particle tracking microrheology was used to evaluate the biophysical properties of porcine trachea mucins for comparison to other reconstituted mucin and native mucus gels. At an ionic strength and pH reflective of conditions in the lungs, we found that porcine tracheal mucins formed

SUBMITTER: Engle EM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12152714 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature