The effect of sulphydryl compounds and cross linking agents on the viscous and viscoelastic properties of mucus¹

Issue title: Special Issue for the Second International Congress on Biorheology. Dedicated to Professor Syoten Oka

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Davis, S.S. | Scobie, S. | Inglis, A.

Affiliations: Pharmaceutics Research Group, Pharmacy Department, University of Aston in Birmingham, Gosta Green, Birmingham B47ET, U.K.

Note: [1] The abstract of this paper appears in Biorheology 12,81, 1975.

Abstract: In order to understand more about the rheological properties of mucoid secretions and the mechanisms by which they are thickened or thinned by drugs, a model system based on hog gastric mucin has been employed. The consistency of a 10 per cent dispersion of mucin in tris buffer is little affected by changes in pH, ionic strength and the addition of specific ions such as Ca2+. The effect of mucolytic sulphydryl and proteolytic compounds has been followed using continuous shear viscometry and a new stress relaxation method. Other agents (surface active agent, and urea) have a similar effect to water. The model can be thickened by the addition of a disodium tetraborate, a cross-linking agent.

DOI: 10.3233/BIR-1975-123-415

Journal: Biorheology, vol. 12, no. 3-4, pp. 225-232, 1975