MUC5B mucin films under mechanical confinement : A combined neutron reflectometry and atomic force microscopy study.

• HYPOTHESIS: Among other functions, mucins hydrate and protect biological interfaces from mechanical challenges. Mucins also attract interest as biocompatible coatings with excellent lubrication performance. Therefore, it is of high interest to understand the structural response of mucin films to mechanical challenges. We hypothesized that this could be done with Neutron Reflectometry using a novel sample environment where mechanical confinement is achieved by inflating a membrane against the films.EXPERIMENTS: Oral MUC5B mucin films were investigated by Force Microscopy/Spectroscopy and Neutron Reflectometry both at solid-liquid interfaces and under mechanical confinement.FINDINGS: NR indicated that MUC5B films were almost completely compressed and dehydrated when confined at 1 bar. This was supported by Force Microscopy/Spectroscopy investigations. Force Spectroscopy also indicated that MUC5B films could withstand mechanical confinement by means of steric interactions for pressures lower than ∼ 0.5 bar i.e., mucins could protect interfaces from mechanical challenges of this magnitude while keeping them hydrated. To investigate mucin films under these pressures by means of the employed sample environment for NR, further technological developments are needed. The most critical would be identifying or developing more flexible membranes that would still meet certain requirements like chemical homogeneity and very low roughness.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Kemi -- Fysikalisk kemi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Chemical Sciences -- Physical Chemistry (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Atomic force microscopy

Force spectroscopy

Mechanical confinement

Mucins

Neutron reflectometry

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)