Abstract
Mucus is part of the innate immune system that defends the mucosa against microbiota and other infectious threats. The mechanical characteristics of mucus, such as viscosity, elasticity, and lubricity, are critically involved in its barrier function. However, assessing the mechanical properties of mucus remains challenging because of technical limitations. Thus, a new approach that characterizes the mechanical properties of mucus on colonic tissues needs to be developed. Here, we describe a novel strategy to characterize the ex vivo mechanical properties of mucus on colonic tissues using atomic force microscopy. This description includes the preparation of the mouse colon sample, AFM calibration, and determining the elasticity (Young’s modulus, E [kPa]) of the mucus layer in the colon.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by grants from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (JP18K15187 [RO], JP21KK0195 [TM and HYY], J21H03790 [TM]) and the Japan Science and Technology Agency, FOREST Program (JPMJFR205N [TM]). TM acknowledges the Nakatani Foundation for Advancement of Measuring Technologies in Biomedical Engineering and the Uehara Memorial Foundation for research incentive grants. We thank Edanz (https://jp.edanz.com/ac) for editing a draft of this manuscript.
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Horikiri, M., Taniguchi, M., Yoshikawa, H.Y., Okumura, R., Matsuzaki, T. (2024). Mechanical Characterization of Mucus on Intestinal Tissues by Atomic Force Microscopy. In: Kameyama, A. (eds) Mucins. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2763. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3670-1_35
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3670-1_35
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