Mucus serves to retain pathogenic microbes and is therefore part of our body's defense elements. US researchers have succeeded in reproducing the complex structure of natural mucus. For scientists, this could pave the way for future treatments for infectious diseases.
Mucus includes various viscous secretions and translucent. They line our nose and other outward-opening organs, as well as our digestive and urinary tracts. In general, mucus protects the organs from bacterial infections and other pathogenic viruses. This type of substance consists of mucins, these large proteins containing glycans in abundance. Remember that glycans are polymers made of monosaccharides (sugar). These can stop bacteria but also disarm them. Indeed, glycans prevent bacteria from secreting toxins and adhering to cells. They also prevent them from communicating with each other.
For researchers at MIT (USA) whose study has been published in the journal ACS Central Science on March 30, 2021, mucus represents an additional potential weapon against germs. The main targets are multi-resistant bacteria. You should know that mucins simply deactivate the bacteria and do not induce any resistance. On the contrary, the mission of antibiotics is to kill these same bacteria, but the latter develop resistance. Let us recall in passing that resistance to antibiotics is today a real public health problem according to the WHO.
In their publication, the researchers explain that making mucus is far from easy. Yet they still managed to produce it using a polymer backbone . Specifically, the scientists used Ring-opening Metathesis Polymerization (ROMP). This technique has existed since the 1970s, massively present in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. It consists of opening a carbon ring to form a linear molecule in which there is a carbon-carbon double bond . Then these molecules can form long polymers.
In order to obtain good results, ROMP requires the use of a metal catalyst which will allow the configuration of the molecule to be chosen. It can be "cis" or "trans", the cis version of synthetic polymers - more elongated - being still closer to natural mucin. The researchers then exposed their artificial mucus to the bacteria Vibrio cholerae, responsible for cholera (see image below). Elongated polymers have proven more effective and are also more soluble in water. Making eye drops and skin moisturizers is therefore worth considering.
Now, US scientists are working on the different combinations possible related to the integration of glycans. You should know that these can act on such and such bacteria. However, this is a real headache in that mucus can contain hundreds of different glycans!
