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Amazing mucosa

Other organs just don’t have as much contact with visitors. Yet mucosal surfaces come in contact with dirt, smoke, microflora, spaghetti, cheesecake, and broccoli. With these visitors come countless potential pathogens. So a team of cells, called the mucosal immune system, has to be on standby on these surfaces where your innards meet the world. Mucus helps flush away some invaders, but it’s just one part of the elaborate defenses of the mucosa. “The whole mucosal immune system is so fascinating,” says LJI Professor Hilde Cheroutre, Ph.D. “It has to operate in an environment of extremes.”

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Articles of Interest

Buccal Mucosa: Why your mouth is key to fast-acting electrolytes

Mucosa is the scientific term for cells that make up our mucous membranes. Although there are many different types, a common factor among them is the production of mucous. Not as gross as it sounds, mucous is essential for digestion and protection against foreign objects, such as dirt and bacteria. Almost all mucosa are located within the body’s digestive system; however, the mouth also houses mucosa, and mucous cells inside the oral cavity are called “buccal mucosa” specifically. As with the other mucosa, these cells assist in digestion, meaning they can process certain nutrients and compounds by absorbing them directly into the bloodstream and skipping over the intestinal tract.

Disorders of Mucous Membranes

The mucous membrane is also known as mucosa. It lines the organs from inside and cavities present in the entire body. The primary role of the mucous membrane is to lubricate and protect these organs and cavities from harmful particles, bodily fluids, and invasive pathogens. The body has more than 200 times more mucosa than the skin, making it its most significant protective barrier. It is also involved in absorption, especially in the gastrointestinal tract, where it plays a vital role in digestion.

Healthy Mucosal Barriers Makes for a Healthier You

Mucosal membranes interface with your internal tissues and the outside environment. They are found in your mouth, nose, eyelids, and respiratory tract (trachea and lungs). These sophisticated barriers are also found in your stomach and intestines, urogenital tract (ureters, urethra, bladder, and vagina) and the tympanic membrane of the inner ear. Mucous membranes provide a barrier that protects the tissues it surrounds from germs. These membranes also secrete mucous which provides lubrication that protects against friction. These two mechanisms are vital to your health in ways that you may have never realized.

The Bigger Picture: Why Oral Mucosa Heals Better Than Skin

Wound healing is an essential process to restore tissue integrity after trauma. Large skin wounds such as burns often heal with hypertrophic scarring and contractures, resulting in disfigurements and reduced joint mobility. Such adverse healing outcomes are less common in the oral mucosa, which generally heals faster compared to skin. Several studies have identified differences between oral and skin wound healing.

The Importance of Hydrated Mucus Membranes to Health

Think of a plant. If we forget to water it, it becomes bone dry. Then, when we do water it, all the water either sits on top unable to sink in, or it goes straight through, flooding the tray leaving the plant still dry. This is a good analogy for a dry human being. If we are inconsistent with our water day to day, when we do drink enough, it goes straight through us and so we may stop drinking which is a huge problem for our mucus membranes!

What is a Mucous membrane?

The mucous membrane is the endodermal origin, which continues with the skin at body openings, including the eyes, ears, nose, lips, inside the mouth, the urethral opening and the anus and vagina in females.

Your Mucosal Immune System: The Body’s First Line of Defense

There are basically three layers to it. The top layer is mucus. Mucus can operate as a kind of trap for pathogens. It has other purposes as well. It allows us to breathe and swallow our food, so it has lots of jobs. But it can also serve as a kind of trap where viruses and pathogens and debris can get stuck in the mucus. Then it just gets kind of dragged out through the digestive tract and it never had an opportunity to penetrate deeper into your system.

Resources

Mucosal Immunology

Mucosal Immunology is the official publication of the Society of Mucosal Immunology (SMI). It aims to provide a forum for both basic and clinical scientists to discuss all aspects of immunity and inflammation involving mucosal tissues