The marvelous powers of mucus

It's snot just a pesky cold symptom

Light micrograph of human sublingual salivary gland with mucus cells and a duct
Mucus is present in several bodily organs and help prevent disease as well as aid in pivotal functions
(Image credit: Ed Reschke / Getty Images)

While we may think of mucus as merely the slimy substance that clogs our nose and gets blown into a tissue, it's so much more. It lines several body organs, acting as a first line of defense against foreign invaders, as well as aiding essential body functions like digestion and illness prevention. And now scientists are taking inspiration from mucus for new disease-fighting treatments.

What is mucus made of?

What can mucus do?

Mucus is a "masterpiece of biological engineering in my mind," said Katharina Ribbeck, a professor of biological engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to the Times. It serves several purposes, from protecting us from pathogens to helping with digestion. "We are actually now learning more and more that it is very dynamic," said David Thornton, a biochemist at the University of Manchester, to New Scientist. "It is not just an inert barrier."

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The goopy substance protects the human body in two ways by being both a physical barrier and a chemical barrier. It works by "shielding the body from unwanted objects and molecules," as well as "actively interacting with foreign materials," said New Scientist. "Mucus is almost like a bouncer at an exclusive nightclub, deciding who gets through." But that's not all it does. Mucus has an "important role in helping to smell, reproduce and have proper gut health, but it also plays an important role in how drugs are absorbed in the body," said Northeastern Global News.

It also "lines all our wet epithelial surfaces," Rebecca Carrier, a chemical engineering professor at Northeastern University, said to Northeastern Global News. This includes the nose, eyes, ears, throat, lungs, stomach and urological and genital tracts and more. Its composition and consistency on these different surfaces can vary as needed. For example, "human cervical mucus becomes thinner and more watery during ovulation, enabling sperm to penetrate it more easily," said New Scientist. "It might even respond to our body's internal clocks."

How can mucus help further medicine?

Researching how mucus works could open exciting possibilities in medicine. For example, mucins contain sugar molecules called glycans that can uniquely fight pathogens. Rather than killing them, the glycans are a food source for the bacteria. It's "like giving a kid a lollipop. They will calm down. Usually, they stop fighting," said Ribbeck to New Scientist. Treating the microbes this way "seems to tame them, rendering them less harmful." As a result, "one strategy could be to use glycans themselves, or molecules mimicking them, as alternatives to antibiotics or immunotherapies." This could also work without creating drug resistance, as can happen with antibiotics.

Devika Rao, The Week US

 Devika Rao has worked as a staff writer at The Week since 2022, covering science, the environment, climate and business. She previously worked as a policy associate for a nonprofit organization advocating for environmental action from a business perspective.