Boundary lubrication by associative mucin

Abstract

Mucus lubricants are widely distributed in living organisms. Such lubricants consist of a gel structure constructed by associative mucin. However, limited tribological studies exist on associative mucin fluids. The present research is the first to investigate the frictional behavior of a typical intact vertebrate mucin (loach skin mucin), which can recover the gel structure of mucus via hydrophobic association under physiological conditions (5-10 mg/mL loach skin mucin dissolved in water). Both rough hydrophobic and hydrophilic polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) rubber plates were used as friction substrates. Up to 10 mg/mL loach skin mucin dissolved in water led to a 10-fold reduction in boundary friction of the two substrates. The boundary-lubricating ability for hydrophilic PDMS decreased with rubbing time, whereas that for hydrophobic PDMS remained constant. The boundary-lubricating abilities of the mucin on hydrophobic PDMS and hydrophilic PDMS showed almost similar responses toward changing concentration or sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). The mucin fluids reduced boundary friction coefficients (μ) only at concentrations (c) in which intermucin associations were formed, with a relationship shown as μ ∼ c(-0.7). Destroying intermucin associations by SDS largely impaired the boundary-lubricating ability. Results reveal for the first time that intermolecular association of intact mucin in bulk solution largely enhances boundary lubrication, whereas tightly adsorbed layer plays a minor role in the lubrication. This study indicates that associated mucin should contribute considerably to the lubricating ability of biological mucus in vivo.