Particle tracking microrheology of purified gastrointestinal mucins. 2014

Pantelis Georgiades, and Paul D A Pudney, and David J Thornton, and Thomas A Waigh
Biological Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, Manchester, M60 1QD, UK; Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell-Matrix Research, Faculty of Life Sciences, Michael Smith Building, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK.

The rheological characteristics of gastric and duodenal mucin solutions, the building blocks of the mucus layer that covers the epithelia of the two organs, were investigated using particle tracking microrheology. We used biochemically well characterized purified porcine mucins (MUC5AC and MUC2) as models for human mucins, to probe their viscoelasticity as a function of mucin concentration and pH. Furthermore, we used both reducing (dithiothreitol, DTT) and chaotropic agents (guanidinium chloride and urea) to probe the mesoscopic forces that mediate the integrity of the polymer network. At neutral pH both gastric and duodenal mucins formed self-assembled semi-dilute networks above a certain critical mucin concentration (c*) with the viscosity (η) scaling as η∼c(0.53±0.08) for MUC5AC and η∼c(0.53±0.06) for MUC2, where c is the mucin concentration. Above an even higher mucin concentration threshold (ce , the entanglement concentration) reptation occurs and there is a dramatic increase in the viscosity scaling, η∼c(3.92±0.38) for MUC5AC and η∼c(5.1±0.8) for MUC2. The dynamics of the self-assembled comb polymers is examined in terms of a scaling model for flexible polyelectrolyte combs. Both duodenum and gastric mucin are found to be pH switchable gels, gelation occurring at low pHs. There is a hundred-fold increase in the elastic shear modulus once the pH is decreased. The addition of DTT, guanidinium chloride and urea disassembles both the semi-dilute and gel structures causing a large increase in the compliance (decrease in their shear moduli). Addition of the polyphenol EGCG has a reverse effect on mucin viscoelasticity, that is, it triggers a sol-gel transition in semi-dilute mucin solutions at neutral pH.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D004386 Duodenum The shortest and widest portion of the SMALL INTESTINE adjacent to the PYLORUS of the STOMACH. It is named for having the length equal to about the width of 12 fingers. Duodenums
D005752 Gastric Mucins Mucins that are found on the surface of the gastric epithelium. They play a role in protecting the epithelial layer from mechanical and chemical damage. Gastric Mucin,Mucin, Gastric,Mucins, Gastric
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D006863 Hydrogen-Ion Concentration The normality of a solution with respect to HYDROGEN ions; H+. It is related to acidity measurements in most cases by pH pH,Concentration, Hydrogen-Ion,Concentrations, Hydrogen-Ion,Hydrogen Ion Concentration,Hydrogen-Ion Concentrations
D000818 Animals Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA. Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D012212 Rheology The study of the deformation and flow of matter, usually liquids or fluids, and of the plastic flow of solids. The concept covers consistency, dilatancy, liquefaction, resistance to flow, shearing, thixotrophy, and VISCOSITY. Flowmetry,Velocimetry,Velocimetries
D012996 Solutions The homogeneous mixtures formed by the mixing of a solid, liquid, or gaseous substance (solute) with a liquid (the solvent), from which the dissolved substances can be recovered by physical processes. (From Grant & Hackh's Chemical Dictionary, 5th ed) Solution
D014783 Viscosity The resistance that a gaseous or liquid system offers to flow when it is subjected to shear stress. (From McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 6th ed) Viscosities
D055119 Elastic Modulus Numerical expression indicating the measure of stiffness in a material. It is defined by the ratio of stress in a unit area of substance to the resulting deformation (strain). This allows the behavior of a material under load (such as bone) to be calculated. Young Modulus,Modulus of Elasticity,Young's Modulus,Elasticity Modulus,Modulus, Elastic,Modulus, Young,Modulus, Young's,Youngs Modulus
D055503 Protein Multimerization The assembly of the QUATERNARY PROTEIN STRUCTURE of multimeric proteins (MULTIPROTEIN COMPLEXES) from their composite PROTEIN SUBUNITS. Protein Dimerization,Protein Heteromultimerizaton,Protein Multimer Assembly,Protein Trimerization,Assembly, Protein Multimer,Dimerization, Protein,Heteromultimerizaton, Protein,Heteromultimerizatons, Protein,Multimer Assembly, Protein,Multimerization, Protein,Trimerization, Protein

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