Role of mucus in mucosal protection through ethanol and pepsin damage models

Abstract

Gastrointestinal mucus is considered an important part of the mucosal defence mechanism against endogenous aggressors such as acid and pepsin. The mucus gel layer, adherent to the mucosal surface creates a diffusion barrier to luminal pepsin, thus protecting the underlying epithelium from the digestion by pepsin. The mucolytic pepsin will, however, digest the mucus at its luminal surface, but that lost is normally balanced by secretion of new mucus. This dynamic balance is disrupted when the mucus is exposed to excess pepsin, which causes focal haemorrhagic damage by progressively hydrolyzing the adherent mucus. The adherent mucus gel layer cannot contribute to the protection against exogen damaging agents such as ethanol and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, as these compounds easily penetrate the mucus barrier causing, at high concentration, epithelial exfoliation. This study describes the basic properties and characteristics of gastric mucus and compares the pepsin-induced damage with the ethanol damage model.