The normal trachea is cleaned by MUC5B mucin bundles from the submucosal glands coated with the MUC5AC mucin

Journal Article · Sat Oct 21 04:00:00 EDT 2017 · Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/J.BBRC.2017.08.113· OSTI ID:22719109

Ermund, Anna; Meiss, Lauren N.; Rodriguez-Pineiro, Ana M. ^[1]; Bähr, Andrea ^[2]; Nilsson, Harriet E. ^[1]; Trillo-Muyo, Sergio ^[1]; Ridley, Caroline; Thornton, David J. ^[3]; Wine, Jeffrey J. ^[4]; Hebert, Hans ^[5]; Klymiuk, Nikolai ^[2]

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1. Department of Medical Biochemistry, University of Gothenburg, SE-405 30 Gothenburg (Sweden)
2. Institute of Molecular Animal Breeding and Biotechnology, Gene Center, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Feodor-Lynen-Straße 25, 81377 Munich (Germany)
3. Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell-Matrix Research, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester (United Kingdom)
4. The Cystic Fibrosis Research Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States)
5. Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, and School of Technology and Health, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Novum, SE-141 57 Huddinge (Sweden)

To understand the mucociliary clearance system, mucins were visualized by light, confocal and electron microscopy, and mucus was stained by Alcian blue and tracked by video microscopy on tracheal explants of newborn piglets. We observed long linear mucus bundles that appeared at the submucosal gland openings and were transported cephalically. The mucus bundles were shown by mass spectrometry and immunostaining to have a core made of MUC5B mucin and were coated with MUC5AC mucin produced by surface goblet cells. The transport speed of the bundles was slower than the airway surface liquid flow. We suggest that the goblet cell MUC5AC mucin anchors the mucus bundles and thus controls their transport. Normal clearance of the respiratory tree of pigs and humans, both rich in submucosal glands, is performed by thick and long mucus bundles. - Highlights: • Submucosal glands in the piglet trachea form bundles of MUC5B mucin. • The mucus bundles are coated with MUC5AC mucin produced by surface goblet cells. • The mucus bundles are transported 10-times slower than the airway surface liquid. • The surface goblet cells are suggested to control the mucus bundle movement.

• OSTI ID: 22719109
• Journal Information: Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Journal Name: Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 492; ISSN 0006-291X; ISSN BBRCA9
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES
CLEARANCE
ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
GLANDS
INFANTS
LIQUID FLOW
LIQUIDS
LUNGS
MASS SPECTROSCOPY
SWINE
TRACHEA