Evaluation of Mucolytic Activity Using a Purified Mucus Glycoprotein Gel

Abstract

The prime characteristic of chronic obstructive airways disease is hypersecretion of bronchial mucus which is invariably too thick to be cleared by the lung mucociliary system. In this situation the objective of therapy must be to reduce the visco-elastic properties of the abnormal secretion to the optimum value for removal by lung clearance mechanisms. The group of drugs which are designed for this purpose have been known as mucolytics and, while many compounds have been shown to be effect-ive in vitro, in clinical practice few can be considered successful (Ziment, 1978). Comparison of reported in vitro experiments is difficult because of the diversity and quality of the mucus systems used. The recent development of a model mucus preparation apparently consisting entirely of purified human bronchial mucus glycoproteins (Marriott et al, 1979) which are capable of gelation at low concentrations, should provide a suitable basis for the comparative evaluation of mucolytic agents.