Olof Svensson Interactions of Mucins with Biopolymers and Drug Delivery Particles

............................................................................... 10 LIST OF PAPERS ......................................................................... 12 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................... 14 Background and aim ............................................................................ 14 The mucous gel and mucins ................................................................... 16 Polyelectrolyte multilayers ...................................................................... 22 MATERIALS AND METHODS ......................................................... 27 Proteins and polymers ............................................................................ 27 Surfaces .............................................................................................. 30 Ellipsometry ......................................................................................... 31 Particle electrophoresis ........................................................................... 40 Atomic force microscopy ........................................................................ 41 Electrochemistry ................................................................................... 42 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ......................................................... 44 Layer-by-layer film formation with mucin ................................................... 44 Interactions between drug delivery particles and mucin .............................. 58 SUMMARY AND CONCLUDING REMARKS ..................................... 65 POPULÄRVETENSKAPLIG SAMMANFATTNING ................................ 67 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................ 70 REFERENCES .............................................................................. 71 APPENDIX ................................................................................. 81