News tagged with mucus
Carnivorous plant traps worms with sticky leaves
Plants eat the darndest things. Scientists have discovered a small flowering plant living in the sandy soils of Brazil that traps nematodes, or roundworms, with sticky underground leaves -- and gobbles them ...
Jan 09, 2012 |
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In bubble-rafting snails, the eggs came first
(PhysOrg.com) -- It's "Waterworld" snail style: Ocean-dwelling snails that spend most of their lives floating upside down, attached to rafts of mucus bubbles.
Oct 10, 2011 |
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Do snails need their slime trails to move ahead? It's a sticky question
(PhysOrg.com) -- High-resolution videos of moving snails and slugs reveal the details of how snails get around on their own distinctive brand of slime.
Apr 07, 2011 |
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Mucus in the nose changes perception of smells
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study in Japan has shown for the first time that enzymes in nasal mucus change the way we perceive smells.
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 03, 2010 |
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The new T. rex: A leech with an affinity for noses
A new leech species with ferociously large teeth -- recently discovered in noses of children that swam in Peruvian rivers -- is providing insight into the evolutionary relationships among all the leeches that ...
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Apr 14, 2010 |
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Scientists discover how a bacterial pathogen breaks down barriers to enter and infect cells
Scientists from the Schepens Eye Research Institute, a subsidiary of Mass. Eye and Ear and affiliate of Harvard Medical School, have found for the first time that a bacterial pathogen can literally mow down protective molecules, ...
Mar 08, 2012 |
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Copper + love chemical = big sulfur stink
When Hiroaki Matsunami, Ph.D., at Duke set out to study a chemical in male mouse urine called MTMT that attracts female mice, he didn't think he would stumble into a new field of study.
Feb 06, 2012 |
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Frog feet could solve a sticky problem
Tree frogs have specially adapted self-cleaning feet which could have practical applications for the medical industry.
Jul 03, 2011 |
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Reluctant hero? Cleaner fish show it pays to be selfless
Putting yourself in the line of fire is shown to reap huge rewards, in a new study published this week in Science.
Jan 07, 2010 |
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Biodegradable particles can bypass mucus, release drugs over time
Johns Hopkins University researchers have created biodegradable nanosized particles that can easily slip through the body's sticky and viscous mucus secretions to deliver a sustained-release medication cargo.
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Jan 04, 2010 |
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Key to potential new treatment for allergy-induced asthma identified
In research that could lead to new asthma drugs, scientists at Yale School of Medicine, Hydra Biosciences of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the University of California, San Francisco have discovered that a protein may be ...
Medicine & Health / Medical research
May 18, 2009 |
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'Evolved' virus may improve gene therapy for cystic fibrosis
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Iowa have turned a relatively benign virus into a highly infectious form that is ideal as a carrier for gene ...
Feb 16, 2009 |
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A Better Mesh: Researchers 'Tighten' Body's Protective Coating
A net with large holes won't catch small fish. Likewise, the microscopic fibers in the protective mucus coatings of the eyes, lungs, stomach or reproductive system naturally bundle together and allow the tiniest ...
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Feb 05, 2009 |
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Pig stomach mucins are effective as anti-viral agents for consumer products
Mucus often elicits strong revulsion, but to MIT biological engineer Katharina Ribbeck, it is a fascinating material.
Apr 25, 2012 |
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A surprising new vehicle for drug delivery?
(PhysOrg.com) -- Are our bodies vulnerable to some pollutants whose lack of solubility in water, or "hydrophobicity," has always been thought to protect us from them? New Tel Aviv University research has discovered ...
Mar 30, 2011 |
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Mucus
In vertebrates, mucus (adjectival form: "mucous") is a slippery secretion produced by, and covering, mucous membranes. Mucous fluid is typically produced from mucous cells found in mucous glands. Mucous cells secrete products that are rich in glycoproteins and water. Mucous fluid may also originate from mixed glands, which contain both serous and mucous cells. It is a viscous colloid containing antiseptic enzymes (such as lysozyme), immunoglobulins, inorganic salts, proteins such as lactoferrin, and glycoproteins known as mucins that are produced by goblet cells in the mucous membranes and submucosal glands. This mucus serves to protect epithelial cells in the respiratory, gastrointestinal, urogenital, visual, and auditory systems in mammals; the epidermis in amphibians; and the gills in fish. A major function of this mucus is to protect against infectious agents such as fungi, bacteria and viruses. The average human body produces about a litre of mucus per day.
Bony fish, hagfish, snails, slugs, and some other invertebrates also produce external mucus. In addition to serving a protective function against infectious agents, such mucus provides protection against toxins produced by predators, can facilitate movement and may play a role in communication.
For more information about Mucus, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
