Mucin alginate interactions

It has been shown that synergistic interactions between mucins and alginates can result in enhaneed rkeological properties and gel formation. This behaviour has wide ranging implications both for pharmaceutical uses of alginates and as a complicating fact or in the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients infected with the alginate secreting bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. However, the data available on the rheological behaviour of mixed mucin alginate systems is limited and no att empts have been made to understand the mechanisms underlying the observed gelation. This project will address the conditions that must be satisfied for mixed mucin alginate gels to form in relation to the mucin and alginate components as well as solvent c onditions such as ionic strength. It will be developed to study the interactions and mechanisms that result in mixed gel formation. This knowledge will then be applied to the study of sputum from cystic fibrosis patients with and without Pseudomonas ae ruginosa infection in an attempt to identify the contribution of mucin alginate gelation to the 'thick' mucus in the lungs of these patients. In vitro studies will be used to investigate mechanisms of disrupting such interactions.