BACKGROUND It has been shown that MUC2 is the prominent mucin synthesised in healthy colon. AIM To identify the predominant mucins in ulcerative colitis (UC) and to study their biosynthesis. METHODS AND RESULTS Mucin was purified from UC resection specimens. This mucin on sodium dodecylsulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) presented as one, high molecular weight, periodic a...

The amino acid and sugar composition of mucins from various organs is similar but not identical. This could arise by one or more of the following: organ-specific processing of a single core protein, organ-specific splicing of a single mucin mRNA, or organ-specific expression of various mucin genes. To begin to investigate the source of this variability, we examined (a) immunological cross-react...

Mucus and its gel-forming glycoprotein component, mucin, are thought to protect the gastrointestinal tract from enteric pathogens by inhibiting their attachment to enterocytes. In this study, we investigated interactions between Yersinia enterocolitica (isogenic strains of virulent and nonvirulent organisms) and crude mucus, highly purified mucin, and brush border membranes (BBMs) isolated from...

The T84 colonic adenocarcinoma cell line, which has been used extensively as a model for studies of epithelial chloride secretion, also produces mucin and secretes it in culture. Electron microscopy of fixed sections of cultured cells, along with Immunogold labelling with an antibody to human small intestine (SI) mucin, revealed the presence of goblet-like cells with mucin-containing secretory ...

When prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) are fed a diet containing cholesterol, a marked increase in gallbladder mucin secretion parallels the evolution of cholesterol supersaturated bile. Gelation of mucin precedes the precipitation of cholesterol liquid and solid crystals and the development of gallstones. Aspirin given to prairie dogs inhibited mucin hypersecretion and gel accumulation and p...

Ovine submaxillary mucin was isolated by modifications of published methods to give preparations with properties similar to those reported earlier. The last step in purification is the removal of small amounts of contaminating protein by gel filtration of mucin previously reacted with dansyl (5-dimethylaminonaphthalene-1-sulfonyl) chloride. The contaminating protein contained all of the protein...

Nuclei were prepared from the human colon mucin-producing tumor GW-39. The method described involves incubation in beta-mercaptoethanol under mild conditions and results in the preparation of nuclei free of the mucin web that initially enmeshes them. A sensitive colorimetric immunoassay was used to confirm that nuclei prepared in this fashion were generally free of contaminating mucin. This met...

Mucus synthesis by the human gall bladder EDITOR,-I was interested to read the papers by Rhodes and colleagues concerning mucus synthesis by the human gall bladder, its apparent inhibition by aspirin, and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and the suggestion that aspirin might prevent cholesterol gall stone formation by this action As gall bladder mucus glycoprotein (mucin) i...

We conducted this study to investigate whether baicalin, baicalein or schizandrin significantly affect MUC5AC mucin production induced by epidermal growth factor (EGF) or phorbol ester (PMA) in human airway epithelial cells. Confluent NCI-H292 cells were pretreated with varying concentrations of baicalin, baicalein or schizandrin for 30 min and then stimulated with EGF or PMA for 24 h, respecti...

Mucin desulfation is believed to be a rate-limiting step in mucin degradation by colon bacteria. The activities of enzymes hydrolysing nine linkages found in mucin oligosaccharide chains were measured using model substrates, in extracts of two mucin-degrading bacteria, Prevotella strain RS2 and Bacteroides fragilis. Sulfatases desulfating N-acetylglucosamine-6-sulfate, galactose-6-sulfate and g...