Synthetic Mucin Gels with Self-Healing Properties Augment Lubricity and Inhibit HIV-1 and HSV-2 Transmission.

ABSTRACT: Mucus is a self-healing gel that lubricates the moist epithelium and provides protection against viruses by binding to viruses smaller than the gel's mesh size and removing them from the mucosal surface by active mucus turnover. As the primary nonaqueous components of mucus (≈0.2%-5%, wt/v), mucins are critical to this function because the dense arrangement of mucin glycans allows multivalence of binding. Following nature's example, bovine submaxillary mucins (BSMs) are assembled into "mucus-like" gels (5%, wt/v) by dynamic covalent crosslinking reactions. The gels exhibit transient liquefaction under high shear strain and immediate self-healing behavior. This study shows that these material properties are essential to provide lubricity. The gels efficiently reduce human immunodeficiency v

SUBMITTER: Kretschmer M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9661867 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature