Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University, 4 Colby St., Medford, MA, 02155, USA.
Adv Healthc Mater. 2023 Oct;12(25):e2300301. doi: 10.1002/adhm.202300301. Epub 2023 Jun 25.
Mucus is a viscoelastic hydrogel that lines and protects the epithelial surfaces of the body that houses commensal microbiota and functions in host defense against pathogen invasion. As a first-line physical and biochemical barrier, intestinal mucus is involved in immune surveillance and spatial organization of the microbiome, while dysfunction of the gut mucus barrier is implicated in several diseases. Mucus can be collected from a variety of mammalian sources for study, however, established methods are challenging in terms of scale and efficiency, as well as with regard to rheological similarity to native human mucus. Therefore, there is a need for mucus-mimetic hydrogels that more accurately reflect the physical and chemical profile of the in vivo human epithelial environment to enable the investigation of the role of mucus in human disease and interactions with the intestinal microbiome. This review will evaluate the material properties of synthetic mucus mimics to date designed to address the above need, with a focus toward an improved understanding of the biochemical and immunological functions of these biopolymers related to utility for research and therapeutic applications.
黏液是一种黏弹性水凝胶，存在于容纳共生微生物群的身体上皮表面，起到保护作用，并在宿主防御病原体入侵中发挥作用。作为第一道物理和生化屏障，肠道黏液参与免疫监视和微生物组的空间组织，而肠道黏液屏障功能障碍与多种疾病有关。可以从各种哺乳动物来源中收集黏液进行研究，然而，现有的方法在规模和效率方面以及在与天然人黏液的流变学相似性方面都具有挑战性。因此，需要黏液模拟水凝胶来更准确地反映体内人上皮环境的物理和化学特征，从而能够研究黏液在人类疾病中的作用以及与肠道微生物组的相互作用。本综述将评估迄今为止设计用于满足上述需求的合成黏液模拟物的材料特性，重点是更好地理解这些生物聚合物的生化和免疫学功能，以用于研究和治疗应用。
