The details of how a mucus hydrogel forms from its primary structural component, mucin polymers, remain incompletely resolved. To explore this, we use a combination of macrorheology and single-particle tracking to investigate the bulk and microscopic mechanical properties of reconstituted MUC5AC mucin gels. We find that analyses of thermal fluctuations on the length scale of the micrometer-sized particles are not predictive of the linear viscoelastic response of the mucin gels, and that taken together, the results from both techniques help to provide complementary insight into the structure of the network. In particular, we show that macroscopic stiffening of MUC5AC gels can be brought about in different ways by targeting specific associations within the network using environmental triggers such as modifications to the pH, surfactant, and salt concentration. Our work may be important for understanding how environmental factors, including pathogens and therapeutic agents, alter the mechanical properties of fully constituted mucus.

中文翻译：

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MUC5AC凝胶的缔合和动力学的流变学研究

粘液水凝胶如何从其主要结构成分粘蛋白聚合物形成的细节尚未完全解决。为了探索这一点，我们结合宏观流变学和单颗粒跟踪研究了重构的MUC5AC粘蛋白凝胶的体积和微观力学性能。我们发现，对微米大小的颗粒的长度尺度上的热涨落的分析不能预测粘蛋白凝胶的线性粘弹性响应，综合起来，两种技术的结果都有助于提供对粘蛋白凝胶结构的补充见解。网络。特别是，我们表明，通过使用环境触发因素（例如修改pH值，表面活性剂，和盐浓度。我们的工作对于理解环境因素（包括病原体和治疗剂）如何改变完全构成的粘液的机械特性可能很重要。