Expression of a polysaccharide capsule is required for the full pathogenicity of many mucosal pathogens such as Streptococcus pneumoniae. Although capsule allows for evasion of opsonization and subsequent phagocytosis during invasive infection, its role during mucosal colonization, the organism's commensal state, remains unknown. Using a mouse model, we demonstrate that unencapsulated mutants r...

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is caused by dysfunction of the CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), an anion channel whose dysfunction leads to chronic bacterial and fungal airway infections via a pathophysiological cascade that is incompletely understood. Airway glands, which produce most airway mucus, do so in response to both acetylcholine (ACh) and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP). CF gl...

a number of studies have attempted to demonstrate the antibacterial properties of skin mucus from different species of fish such as turbot, atlantic salmon, rainbow trout, gold fish, seabass, seabream, flounder, barramundi, cichlid and yellowtail . however, most have suffered from alack of definitive data concerning the virulence of the organisms used for in vitro assessment of antibacterial pr...

  Effect of Cervical Mucus Aspiration with Insulin Syringe on Pregnancy Rate in ART Cycles     A. Aflatoonian MD1*, M. Asgharnia MD 2, N.Tabibnejad GP3     1- Associated Professor, Dept. of Gynecology, University of Medical Sciences and Research and Clinical Center of Infertility, Yazd, Iran   2- Assistant Professor, Dept. of Gynecology, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran   3- G...

BACKGROUND Abnormal homeostasis of the volume of airway surface liquid in patients with cystic fibrosis is thought to produce defects in mucus clearance and airway defense. Through osmotic forces, hypertonic saline may increase the volume of airway surface liquid, restore mucus clearance, and improve lung function. METHODS A total of 24 patients with cystic fibrosis were randomly assigned to ...

Mucus pathology in cystic fibrosis (CF) has been known for as long as the disease has been recognized and is sometimes called mucoviscidosis. The disease is marked by mucus hyperproduction and plugging in many organs, which are usually most fatal in the airways of CF patients, once the problem of meconium ileus at birth is resolved. After the CF gene, CFTR, was cloned and its protein product id...

Postcopulatory adaptations that increase reproductive success compared to rivals, like the transfer of accessory gland products that promote paternity, are common when sperm competition occurs among males. In land snails, the dart shooting behavior and its adaptive significance, in promoting individual fitness through enhanced paternity of the successful dart shooter, have been considered such ...

The mammalian intestine is colonized by trillions of bacteria that perform essential metabolic functions for their hosts. The mutualistic nature of this relationship depends on maintaining spatial segregation between these bacteria and the intestinal epithelial surface. This segregation is achieved in part by the presence of a dense mucus layer at the epithelial surface and by the production of...

Reports on drug delivery systems capable of overcoming multiple biological barriers are rare. We introduce a nanoparticle-based drug delivery technology capable of rapidly penetrating both lung tumor tissue and the mucus layer that protects airway tissues from nanoscale objects. Specifically, human ferritin heavy-chain nanocages (FTn) were functionalized with polyethylene glycol (PEG) in a uniq...

The gastric mucosa is continuously exposed to many noxious factors and substances. How the gastric mucosa maintains structural integrity and resists auto-digestion by substances such as acid and pepsin puzzled clinicians and investigators for more than 200 years. The gastric epithelium must also resist damage from extrinsic agents, including Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) and noxious ingestion...