ArticleAmerican journal of physiology. Gastrointestinal and liver physiology2012
An ex vivo method for studying mucus formation, properties, and thickness in human colonic biopsies and mouse small and large intestinal explants.
Article in American journal of physiology. Gastrointestinal and liver physiology, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 144 papers.
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Who cites it
144 citing papers in PubMed, 252 citations in OpenAlex.
- Review
- Characterisation of bacteria-induced colitis and its modulation by probiotics in naked mole rats: a new mammalian model for acute inflammatory disease.The Journal of pathology · 2026Article
- Novel Perspectives on the Relationship Between the Gastrointestinal Mucus Barrier and Soybean Agglutinin.Cells · 2026Review
- Polysaccharides and the colon mucus barrier: a review of biophysical interactions and functional impacts.NPJ science of food · 2026Review
- Virtual Colon: spatiotemporal modeling of metabolic interactions in a computational colonic environment.mSystems · 2026Article
- Coordinated regulation of colonic fluid and mucus secretion.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Review
- EatA mediated degradation of intestinal mucus is species-specific and driven by MUC2 structural features.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Using MUC2 mucin producing tumorigenic human goblet-like cells to uncover functional properties of the mucus barrier.Gut microbes · 2025Article
- Mucosal washes are useful for sampling intestinal mucus-associated microbiota despite low biomass.Gut microbes · 2025Article
- Intestinal Mucin Glycosylation: Structural Regulation, Homeostasis Maintenance and Disease Association.Biomolecules · 2025Review
- Review
- Goblet Cells and Mucus Composition in Jejunum and Ileum Containing Peyer's Patches and in Colon: A Study in Pigs.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Neonatal microbiota colonization primes maturation of goblet cell-mediated protection in the pre-weaning colon.The Journal of experimental medicine · 2025Article
- The hidden piece in inflammatory bowel diseases: The significance of intestinal mucus in mediating the bacteria-cells crosstalk.Materials today. Bio · 2025Review
- Structure of the Secretory Compartments in Goblet Cells in the Colon and Small Intestine.Cells · 2025Article
- Human mesofluidic intestinal model for studying transport of drug carriers and bacteria through a live mucosal barrier.Lab on a chip · 2025Article
- TSP50 deficiency in neural stem cells aggravates colitis in mice by altering intestinal microbiome.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2025Article
- Modeling cancer-microbiome interactions in vitro: A guide to co-culture platforms.International journal of cancer · 2025Review
- The structure of FCGBP is formed as a disulfide-mediated homodimer between its C-terminal domains.The FEBS journal · 2025Article
- Mechanisms of uropathogenicScience advances · 2025Article
84 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The colon mucus layers minimize the contact between the luminal flora and the epithelial cells, and defects in this barrier may lead to colonic inflammation. We now describe an ex vivo method for analysis of mucus properties in human colon and mouse small and large intestine. Intestinal explants were mounted in horizontal perfusion chambers. The mucus surface was visualized by adding charcoal particles on the apical side, and mucus thickness was measured using a micropipette. Mucus thickness, adhesion, and growth rate were recorded for 1 h. In mouse and human colon, the ability of the mucus to act as a barrier to beads the size of bacteria was also evaluated. Tissue viability was monitored by transepithelial potential difference. In mouse ileum, the mucus could be removed by gentle aspiration, whereas in colon ∼40 μm of the mucus remained attached to the epithelial surface. Both mouse and human colon had an inner mucus layer that was not penetrated by the fluorescent beads. Spontaneous mucus growth was observed in human (240 μm/h) and mouse (100 μm/h) colon but not in mouse ileum. In contrast, stimulation with carbachol induced a higher mucus secretion in ileum than colon (mouse ileum: Δ200 μm, mouse colon: Δ130 μm, human colon: Δ140 μm). In conclusion, while retaining key properties from the mucus system in vivo, this setup also allows for studies of the highly dynamic mucus system under well-controlled conditions.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.