Univ. Lille, Inserm, CHU Lille, LIRIC UMR 995, F-59000 Lille, France.
Laboratoire Sciences et Ingénierie de la Matière Molle, PSL Research University, UPMC Univ Paris 06, ESPCI Paris, CNRS, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France; Global Station for Soft Matter, Global Institution for Collaborative Research and Education, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
Adv Colloid Interface Sci. 2018 Feb;252:69-82. doi: 10.1016/j.cis.2017.12.005. Epub 2017 Dec 28.
Mucus is a hydrogel that constitutes the first innate defense in all mammals. The main organic component of mucus, gel-forming mucins, forms a complex network through both reversible and irreversible interactions that drive mucus gel formation. Significant advances in the understanding of irreversible gel-forming mucins assembly have been made using recombinant protein approaches. However, little is known about the reversible interactions that may finely modulate mucus viscoelasticity, which can be characterized using rheology. This approach can be used to investigate both the nature of gel-forming mucins interactions and factors that influence hydrogel formation. This knowledge is directly relevant to the development of new drugs to modulate mucus viscoelasticity and to restore normal mucus functions in diseases such as in cystic fibrosis. The aim of the present review is to summarize the current knowledge about the relationship between the mucus protein matrix and its functions, with emphasis on mucus viscoelasticity.
黏液是一种水凝胶，构成了所有哺乳动物的第一道先天防御。黏液的主要有机成分——凝胶形成黏蛋白，通过可逆和不可逆相互作用形成复杂的网络，从而驱动黏液凝胶的形成。使用重组蛋白方法，在理解不可逆凝胶形成黏蛋白组装方面已经取得了重大进展。然而，对于可能精细调节黏液粘弹性的可逆相互作用知之甚少，而流变学可以用来对其进行表征。这种方法可用于研究凝胶形成黏蛋白相互作用的性质以及影响水凝胶形成的因素。这些知识与开发调节黏液粘弹性和恢复囊性纤维化等疾病中正常黏液功能的新药直接相关。本综述的目的是总结目前关于黏液蛋白基质与其功能之间关系的知识，重点是黏液粘弹性。
