2022 Annual Meeting
Dynamic Light Scattering Evaluation of the Effect of pH on Porcine Gastric Mucin III
Mucus is the gateway of pathogens inside the body. Mucus consists of glycoproteins called mucins which are rich in sequences of sugars commonly referred to as O-glycans. Since pathogens like viruses are also covered with sugars, any adhesion between the sugars on virus and mucin will modulate the former transport through mucus and into the host. To understand the rules of sugar-mediated adhesions between mucin-mucin and mucin-virus, the terminal sugars on mucin were cleaved with exoglycosidases at acidic pH and changes in aggregation tracked with Dynamic Light Scattering. The goal of this study is to determine if the acidic pH itself induced aggregation in mucin that was indistinguishable for sugar-induced adhesion effects. A pH titration study was performed on commercial mucin and the time-scale of mucin aggregation changes was tracked at different pH as well as the reversibility of the resulting aggregation effects when the pH change is neutralized. Results showed that mucin aggregates below pH 5, though the time scale of aggregation was slow for a narrow range of pH around 4.5. All pH induced aggregation was reversible as long the pH remained above 3. Our studies indicate that mucin aggregation by pH can be distinguishable by its reversibility from mucin aggregation facilitated by sugar-sugar adhesion.
Further Acknowledgement(s): This study was supported by an NSF DEB Award#2000175 to Dr. Preethi Chandran.