A rational approach to form disulfide linked mucin hydrogels

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Polymer Chemistry
• Rheology

Background:

• Mucus is a complex biological hydrogel with unique viscoelastic properties crucial for its protective functions.
• Developing synthetic hydrogels that replicate natural mucus is challenging but important for biomedical applications.
• Existing methods for creating mucin-based hydrogels often lack control over mechanical properties and microstructure.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and synthesize a mucin hydrogel using a thiol-based cross-linking strategy.
• To achieve viscoelastic properties similar to natural mucus.
• To investigate the role of disulfide linkages in gel formation and control network microstructure.

Main Methods:

• Thiol-based cross-linking of mucin.
• Bulk rheology measurements to assess viscoelastic properties.
• Chemical treatments to probe the contribution of disulfide bonds.
• Particle tracking microrheology to study gel formation kinetics and microstructure evolution.

Main Results:

• Successfully produced mucin hydrogels with viscoelastic properties comparable to natural mucus.
• Confirmed that disulfide cross-links are essential for mucin hydrogel network formation.
• Demonstrated that gel formation rate and pore size can be tuned by adjusting the mucin to crosslinker ratio.
• Achieved network pore sizes within the range found in human mucus.

Conclusions:

• A novel and straightforward method for creating mucin hydrogels with physiologically relevant properties has been developed.
• The thiol-based cross-linking strategy allows for tunable control over hydrogel formation and microstructure.
• These engineered mucin hydrogels hold promise for applications requiring mucus-mimicking materials.