Mucus-Inspired Dynamic Hydrogels: Synthesis and Future Perspectives

Abstract

Mucus hydrogels at biointerfaces are crucial for protecting against foreign pathogens and for the biological functions of the underlying cells. Since mucus can bind to and host both viruses and bacteria, establishing a synthetic model system that can emulate the properties and functions of native mucus and can be synthesized at large scale would revolutionize the mucus-related research that is essential for understanding the pathways of many infectious diseases. The synthesis of such biofunctional hydrogels in the laboratory is highly challenging, owing to their complex chemical compositions and the specific chemical interactions that occur throughout the gel network. In this perspective, we discuss the basic chemical structures and diverse physicochemical interactions responsible for the unique properties and functions of mucus hydrogels. We scrutinize the different approaches for preparing mucus-inspired hydrogels, with specific examples. We also discuss recent research and what it reveals about the challenges that must be addressed and the opportunities to be considered to achieve desirable de novo synthetic mucus hydrogels.

Functional microneedles for wearable electronics

“…There is still a lot of space for the improvement of microneedle-integrated electronics. Firstly, it would be fine to include novel soft polymers [100][101][102][103][104] in the material compositions to endow the microneedle biosensors with breathable, stretchable, conformable, responsive, or other additional functions. Notably, degradable, recyclable, or even compostable materials are with high anticipation to make these sensors environmentally friendly.…”

Mucin‐inspirierte Einzelstrang‐Polymerfasern (MIP) als wirksame SARS‐CoV‐2‐Inhibitoren

“…Die antivirale Breitbandwirkung [4b] nativer Mucine sowie die vielversprechende Anwendung synthetischer Mucine [7] inspirierten uns bei der Entwicklung einer Mucin‐mimetischen Polymerplattform, die die Struktur nativer Mucine nachahmt und je nach spezifischer Funktionalisierung als neuartiges antivirales Material gegen verschiedene Atemwegsviren dienen könnte. Dendritisches Polyglycerin (dPG) weist strukturelle Ähnlichkeiten zu zuckerbasierten Polymergerüsten auf und zeigt u. a. eine gute Hydrophilie und Biokompatibilität sowie eine geringe unspezifische Bindung an Proteine [8] .…”

Mucosa‐Mimetic Materials for the Study of Intestinal Homeostasis and Disease

“…There are several previous reports of mucosa-mimetic materials (Table 2) (Figure 2) [5a,15,58] and dynamic hydrogels. [59] Generally, mucus mimics can be categorized as cell cultures, in vitro models, nonpeptide polymers, and peptide-backbone polymers. 2018), [58] Boegh and Nielson (2015) [15] ).…”