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The Microstructure and Bulk Rheology of Human Cervicovaginal Mucus Are Remarkably Resistant to Changes in pH
- Source :
- Biomacromolecules. 14:4429-4435
- Publication Year :
- 2013
- Publisher :
- American Chemical Society (ACS), 2013.
-
Abstract
- The protective barrier, lubricant, and clearance functions of mucus are intimately coupled to its microstructure and bulk rheology. Mucus gels consist of a network of mucin biopolymers along with lipids, salts, and other proteins and exhibit similar biochemical and physical properties across diverse mucosal surfaces. Nevertheless, mucus is exposed to a broad range of pH values throughout the human body. Protein functions are typically sensitive to small changes in pH, and prior investigations using reconstituted, purified mucin gels suggested mucus undergoes a transition from a low-viscosity liquid at neutral pH to a highly viscoelastic solid at low pH. We sought to determine whether those observations hold for fresh, minimally perturbed human mucus ex vivo by using different-sized muco-inert nanoparticles to probe microstructure and cone-and-plate rheometry to measure bulk rheology. We demonstrate that both the microstructure and bulk rheology of fresh, undiluted, and minimally perturbed cervicovaginal mucus exhibit relatively minor changes from pH 1-2 to 8-9, in marked contrast with the pH sensitivity of purified mucin gels. Our work also suggests additional components in mucus secretions, typically eliminated during mucin purification and reconstitution, may play an important role in maintaining the protective properties of mucus.
- Subjects :
- Polymers and Plastics
Phosphines
Nonoxynol
Nanoparticle
Bioengineering
Article
Viscoelasticity
Polyethylene Glycols
Biomaterials
Rheology
Elastic Modulus
Materials Chemistry
Humans
Particle Size
Egtazic Acid
Chelating Agents
Rheometry
Viscosity
Chemistry
Mucin
Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
Microstructure
Mucus
Biochemistry
Reducing Agents
Cervix Mucus
Biophysics
Female
Particle size
Porosity
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15264602 and 15257797
- Volume :
- 14
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Biomacromolecules
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....9d13e929cbf3399f2f1cd2b3e01ad478