Media 7: Monitoring airway mucus flow and ciliary activity with optical coherence tomography

Originally published in Biomedical Optics Express on 01 September 2012 (boe-3-9-1978

'Insecta exotica'

Originally published in Biomedical Optics Express on 01 September 2012 (boe-3-9-1978

Media 1: Monitoring airway mucus flow and ciliary activity with optical coherence tomography

Originally published in Biomedical Optics Express on 01 September 2012 (boe-3-9-1978

Media 4: Monitoring airway mucus flow and ciliary activity with optical coherence tomography

Originally published in Biomedical Optics Express on 01 September 2012 (boe-3-9-1978

Media 6: Monitoring airway mucus flow and ciliary activity with optical coherence tomography

Originally published in Biomedical Optics Express on 01 September 2012 (boe-3-9-1978

Media 2: Monitoring airway mucus flow and ciliary activity with optical coherence tomography

Originally published in Biomedical Optics Express on 01 September 2012 (boe-3-9-1978

Disruption and eradication of <i>P. aeruginosa</i> biofilms using nitric oxide-releasing chitosan oligosaccharides

<div><p>Biofilm disruption and eradication were investigated as a function of nitric oxide- (NO) releasing chitosan oligosaccharide dose and the results compared with control (ie non-NO-releasing) chitosan oligosaccharides and tobramycin. Quantification of biofilm expansion/contraction and multiple-particle tracking microrheology were used to assess the structural integrity of the biofilm before and after antibacterial treatment. While tobramycin had no effect on the physical properties of the biofilm, NO-releasing chitosan oligosaccharides exhibited dose-dependent behavior with biofilm degradation. Control chitosan oligosaccharides increased biofilm elasticity, indicating that the scaffold may mitigate the biofilm disrupting power of nitric oxide somewhat. The results from this study indicate that nitric oxide-releasing chitosan oligosaccharides act as dual-action therapeutics capable of eradicating and physically disrupting <i>P. aeruginosa</i> biofilms.</p></div

Role of Nitric Oxide-Releasing Chitosan Oligosaccharides on Mucus Viscoelasticity

Nitric oxide (NO)-releasing chitosan oligosaccharides were modified with ester functional groups to examine how the mucoadhesive nature of the scaffold impacts the ability of NO to degrade mucins from human bronchial epithelial cell cultures and clinical sputum samples collected from patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). Agarose gel electrophoresis experiments indicated that the mucoadhesive NO-releasing chitosan oligosaccharides degraded both the purified mucins and sputum, while control scaffolds (without NO release or mucoadhesive ligands) had no effect on mucin structure. Microscopic observations of sputum treated with the mucoadhesive NO-releasing chitosan oligosaccharide confirmed degradation of the mucin and DNA networks. Similarly, the viscosity and elasticity of sputum were reduced upon treatment with the mucoadhesive NO-releasing chitosan, demonstrating the potential utility of these NO-releasing scaffolds as mucolytic agents

Diffusivity properties of HBE mucus.

<p><b>A</b>) Particle trajectories of 1 µm diameter particles for four concentrations over 30 s. <b>B</b>) Ensemble-averaged MSD versus lag time for different mucus solids concentrations. The dashed line represents a viscous fluid; any smaller slope indicates sub-diffusive scaling. <b>C</b>) Individual or path-wise MSD (iMSD) for particles embedded in mucus samples color-coded by solids concentration, for 1.5, 2.0, 3.0 <i>wt%</i>. <b>D</b>) iMSD for particles embedded in mucus samples color-coded by solids concentration, for 3.0, 4.0, 5.0 <i>wt%. Note the vertical scale disparity with </i><a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0087681#pone-0087681-g002" target="_blank"><i>Figure </i><b>2C</b></a>.</p

Concentration (<i>wt%</i> solids including salts) of sputum for normal, COPD, and cystic fibrosis samples.

<p>The data yields: for normal sputum, 1.7±0.56 <i>wt%</i> from 17 samples; for COPD sputum, 3.7±2.3 <i>wt%</i> from 47 samples; and for cystic fibrosis, 7.0%±2.3 <i>wt%</i> from 21 samples. The red lines on the figure at 1.5% and 5% show the range of HBE mucus solids concentrations assayed in this study.</p