Mucus Rheology

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Abstract
The viscoelastic behavior of bronchial mucus has important consequences for mucociliary clearance. Elasticity rather than viscosity governs the energy transfer from cilia to mucus. Maintenance of a proper sol layer bathing the cilia is essential to normal clearance, since reducing the thickness of the sol layer will interfere with this energy transfer. The lung water balance may play an important role in maintaining this layer. Increased difficulty of releasing highly elastic mucus from gland ducts and goblet cells may also be a mechanism for retarding clearance. The sol-gel properties of polyelectrolyte solutions such as mucus are strongly influenced by ionic interactions and hydration effects, and are responsible for viscoelastic behavior. A model of mucociliary flow based on the sol-gel hypothesis suggests a number of questions relating to the overall problem of pulmonary clearance.

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