A mucus layer covers and protects the intestinal epithelial cells from direct contact with microbes. This mucus layer not only prevents inflammation but also plays an essential role in microbiota colonization, indicating the complex interplay between mucus composition-microbiota and intestinal health. However, it is unknown whether the mucus layer is influenced by age or sex and whether this co...

Several taxa of pulmonate land snails exhibit a conspicuous mating behaviour, the shooting of so-called love darts. During mating, such land snail species stab a mating partner with a mucus-coated dart. It has previously been shown that the sperm donor physiologically influences the sperm recipient via the mucus covering the dart and thereby decreases the number of sperm digested by the recipie...

An in vitro mucus assay was developed to study the role of mucus gel and secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) in preventing attachment of Campylobacter jejuni to INT 407 cells. An overlay of rabbit small intestinal mucus was found to impede the attachment of C. jejuni to a monolayer of INT 407 cells. Mucus from rabbits previously colonized with C. jejuni was found to completely inhibit bacterial a...

The antibacterial activity present in the s k ~ n mucus of turbot Scophthalmus maximus, seabream Sparus aurdtd and seabass Dicentrarchus labrdx against Pasteul-ella piscicida and Flex~bacter maritimus was evaluated. Using assays on agar plates, none of the mucus samples from the above fish showed any antibacterial activity against E maritimus isolates. Turbot mucus inhibited the growth of the P...

Divergent results from in vitro studies on the thickness and appearance of the gastrointestinal mucus layer have previously been reported. With an in vivo model, we studied mucus gel thickness over time from stomach to colon. The gastrointestinal tissues of Inactin-anesthetized rats were mounted luminal side up for intravital microscopy. Mucus thickness was measured with a micropipette before a...

Hypertonic saline inhalation has become a cornerstone in the treatment of cystic fibrosis (CF), but its effect on CF mucus is still not understood. In CF, mucus stagnates in the airways, causing mucus plugging, and forming a substrate for bacterial invasion. Using horizontal Ussing-type chambers to allow easy access to the tissue, we have recently shown that the small intestinal mucus of CF mic...

Airway surface liquid is comprised of mucus and an underlying, watery periciliary liquid (PCL). In contrast to the well-described axial transport of mucus along airway surfaces via ciliary action, theoretical analyses predict that the PCL is nearly stationary. Conventional and confocal microscopy of fluorescent microspheres and photoactivated fluorescent dyes were used with well-differentiated ...

We have recently shown that the colon is protected by an inner mucus layer that efficiently separates the bacteria in the outer mucus from the epithelial cells. The inner mucus is impervious for bacteria and built by a network formed by the MUC2 mucin. Lack or defects in this inner mucus layer allow bacteria to reach the epithelia, something that triggers colon inflammation.

The colonic mucus barrier is the first line of defence that the underlying mucosa has against the wide range of potentially damaging agents of microbial, endogenous, and dietary origin that occur within the colonic lumen. The functional component of mucus is the secreted, polymeric glycoprotein mucin. The mucus barrier can either act as an energy source or a support medium for growth to the int...

The present review provides an overview of methods and techniques for studying interactions of micro- and nanoparticulate drug delivery system with mucus. Nanocarriers trapped by mucus are featuring a change in particle size and zeta potential that can be utilized to predict their mucus permeation behavior. Furthermore, interactions between nanoparticulate drug delivery systems and mucus layer ...