King M
Fed Proc. 1980 Nov;39(13):3080-5.
Mucus is a viscoelastic gel that exhibits both liquid-like and solid-like properties. Viscoelasticity can be determined in both transient and dynamic experiments, which give in principle the same information; the latter, however, offer a simpler interpretation. The principal determinant of mucus viscoelasticity appears to be mucin content; pH, added salts, serum proteins, and DNA have also been found to affect mucus viscoelasticity. However, agreement between studies, even equalitative, is far from complete. Acute pharmacologic interventions can significantly alter airway mucus viscoelasticity. The mechanism by which the changes occur remains to be explored, but alterations in epithelial ion transport and membrane permeability to protein offer rational explanations for the observations.
黏液是一种具有黏弹性的凝胶，兼具液体和固体的特性。黏弹性可在瞬态和动态实验中测定，原则上二者提供的信息相同；然而，动态实验的解释更为简单。黏液黏弹性的主要决定因素似乎是黏蛋白含量；pH值、添加的盐、血清蛋白和DNA也被发现会影响黏液的黏弹性。然而，即使是定性研究，各项研究之间也远未达成完全一致。急性药物干预可显著改变气道黏液的黏弹性。变化发生的机制仍有待探索，但上皮离子转运和蛋白质膜通透性的改变为这些观察结果提供了合理的解释。
