Mucin glycoproteins, the macromolecular components of mucus, combine a broad range of biomedically important properties. Among those is the ability of mucin solutions to act as excellent lubricants. However, to be able to use purified, endogenous mucin glycoproteins as components of a biomedical product, the mucins need to be sterile; this, in turn, makes it necessary to subject the mucins to quite harsh physical treatments, such as heat exposure, autoclaving, UV‐, or γ‐irradiation, which might compromise the functionality of the glycoproteins. Here, it is shown that mucins are indeed able to withstand most of those treatments without suffering significant lubrication impairment or structural degradation. Among those treatments, which left the mucins unharmed, γ‐irradiation is identified to be the most powerful one in terms of inactivating microbial contaminations. The obtained results demonstrate a remarkable sturdiness of mucins, which opens up broad possibilities for them to be further processed into materials, e.g., as parts of biomedical products.

中文翻译：

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几种灭菌策略可维持粘蛋白糖蛋白的功能。

粘蛋白糖蛋白是粘液的大分子成分，具有广泛的生物医学重要特性。其中包括粘蛋白溶液充当优异润滑剂的能力。然而，为了能够使用纯化的内源性粘蛋白糖蛋白作为生物医学产品的成分，粘蛋白必须是无菌的。反过来，这使得有必要对粘蛋白进行相当苛刻的物理处理，例如热暴露，高压灭菌，紫外线或γ辐射，这可能会损害糖蛋白的功能。在这里，表明粘蛋白确实能够经受住大多数这些治疗而不会遭受明显的润滑损害或结构降解。在那些使粘蛋白不受损害的治疗方法中，就灭活微生物污染而言，γ射线被认为是最强大的一种。获得的结果显示出粘蛋白的坚固性，这为它们进一步加工成材料（例如作为生物医学产品的一部分）开辟了广阔的可能性。