New insights into the mucoadhesion of pectins by AFM roughness parameters in combination with SPR

The object of this study was to assess the mucoadhesion of the three main commercially available types of pectin by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and surface Plasmon resonance (SPR). Polyacrylic acid and polyvinyl pyrrolidone were used as positive and negative control, respectively. Image analysis of the AFM scans revealed a significant change of roughness parameters when low-ester pectin was introduced to mica supported bovine submaxillarymucin, indicating a high mucoadhesion for this type of pectin. Only minor changes were observed with high-ester and amidated pectin. The same ranking order of adhesion affinity was confirmed by SPR. In conclusion, a high specific mucin interaction of pectin with a high charge density was demonstrated directly on a molecular scale without interference from the viscoelastic properties or the intra-molecular interactions between the polymer chains themselves, using two independent methods.