We have collected gastrointestinal, mainly colonic, mucus from humans, guinea pigs, rats, and normal and carbonic anhydrase II (CAII)-deficient mice. In the mucus of all species, substantial CA activity was present. Using antibodies against human CA isoforms we found that the human mucus CA differs from cytosolic CAI and CAII, membrane-bound CAIV, and the secreted CAVI of saliva. The high sensi...

The histological characterization of the intestinal mucus layer is important for many scientific experiments investigating the interaction between intestinal microbiota, mucosal immune response and intestinal mucus production. The aim of this study was to examine and compare different fixation protocols for displaying and quantifying the intestinal mucus layer in piglets and to test which histo...

AbstractEpidermal inclusion cysts are uncommon in the breast, but the consequences can besevere when these cysts occur in the breast parenchyma. Here, we report two suchcases. The patient in case 1 was an 37-year-old woman with a 3-cm palpable mass inthe right breast. Mammography revealed a round and smoothly outlined mass, whichindicated a benign tumor, and sonography showed an irregularly sha...

Aloe buettneri A. Berger is commonly used in traditional Togolese medicine to treat inflammatory and gastric ulcers. The present study examined the gastro-protection effect of the hydro-alcoholic extract of A. buettneri on mucus production and gastric pH. A gastric ulcer is induced by ethanol 95° alone (1 ml/kg body weight), after pre-treatment with indomethacin (300 mg/kg) or by utilising L-NA...

Mucus secretions typically protect exposed surfaces of the eyes and respiratory, gastrointestinal and female reproductive tracts from foreign entities, including pathogens and environmental ultrafine particles. We hypothesized that excess exposure to some foreign particles, however, may cause disruption of the mucus barrier. Many synthetic nanoparticles are likely to be mucoadhesive due to hydr...

BACKGROUND The efficacy of symmetrical-waveform high-frequency oscillating (HFO) air flow for airway secretion clearance is controversial and debated in the literature. METHODS We conducted in vitro experiments with ovine tracheae to investigate the effects of symmetrical-waveform HFO on tracheal transport of artificial mucus. We mounted each trachea as an intact tube, with a 15(o) head-down ...

The respiratory mucus is a very complex biological material, which possesses both flow and deformation rheological properties, characterized by non-linear and time-dependent viscoelasticity and physical properties of adhesiveness and wettability. Viscosity and elasticity are directly involved in the transport capacity of mucus, whereas wettability and adhesiveness contribute to the optimal inte...

The bioavailability of paclitaxel (Ptx) has previously been improved via its encapsulation in lipid nanocapsules (LNCs). In this work, the interactions between LNCs and intestinal mucus are studied because they are viewed as an important barrier to successful oral delivery. The rheological properties of different batches of pig intestinal mucus were studied under different conditions (the effec...

In human airways diseases, including cystic fibrosis (CF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), host defense is compromised and airways inflammation and infection often result. Mucus clearance and trapping of inhaled pathogens constitute key elements of host defense. Clearance rates are governed by mucus viscous and elastic moduli at physiological driving frequencies, whereas transp...