Formation and Function of Physiological Gels

研究人员将使用数学分析和计算来探索生理凝胶的力学和化学动力学。在生物系统中有许多具有凝胶性质的聚合物网络，这一事实在很大程度上被实验学家和理论家所忽视。事实上，与其他生理结构和过程相比，生物凝胶的定量研究还很不足。因此，这个项目的目的之一是将应用数学的工具应用于几个密切相关的生物凝胶生长和动态行为问题。更具体地说，本提案的目标是研究凝胶形成、分泌和降解的过程；他们的监管;以及动态生理生物凝胶中这些与功能的关系。研究人员将通过检查三个具体问题来研究这些问题：1)血液凝固过程中纤维蛋白凝胶网络的生长。ii)粘蛋白凝胶的水泡性胞吐。iii)胃黏蛋白层的生长调控及其对胃的保护作用。这些研究将涉及多个空间和时间尺度，并将研究微观性质和事件如何影响宏观功能。将开发数学模型来了解如何确定和控制物理性质，如粘弹性本构性质和凝胶形态，以及这些性质如何影响生物凝胶的生理功能。同时，研究人员将寻找对其他系统有影响的生物凝胶动力学的一般原理。具有凝胶样性质的聚合物网络出现在广泛的生理环境和过程中。更好地了解这些凝胶是如何形成的以及它们的特性是如何被调节的，对于理解这些重要的过程以及如何操纵它们来改善人类健康至关重要。因为生物凝胶的形成和调节是由物理和化学性质决定的，因为这些性质可以用数学来表达，所以数学工具可以用来解决这些问题。通过对生物凝胶的数学分析和计算模拟，可以获得丰富的详细数据，补充了传统实验室实验获得的数据。因此，在这个项目中，数学和实验研究者的结合有望对生物凝胶在重要的生理和病理情况下的行为产生重要的新见解，包括血液凝固、粘蛋白分泌和胃内膜的保护。

The investigators will use mathematical analysis and computations to explore the mechanical and chemical dynamics of physiological gels. The fact that there are many polymer networks with gel-like properties in biological systems has been largely overlooked by experimentalists and theorists. Indeed, quantitative studies of biogels are scant in comparison with those of other physiological structures and processes. One aim of this project, therefore, is to bring to bear the tools of applied mathematics to several closely related problems of biogel growth and dynamic behavior. More specifically, the goal of this proposal is to study the processes of gel formation, secretion, and degradation; their regulation; and the relationship between these and function in dynamic physiological biogels. The investigators will study these issues by examining three specific problems: i) The growth of fibrin gel networks during blood clotting. ii) Vesicular exocytosis of mucin gel. iii) The growth and regulation of the mucin layer in the stomach and its role in gastric protection. The studies will involve multiple spatial and temporal scales, and will examine how microscopic properties and events affect macroscopic function. Mathematical models will be developed to understand how physical properties such as the viscoelastic constitutive properties and the gel morphology are determined and controlled, and how these properties affect the physiological function of the biogel. At the same time, the investigators will look for general principles of biogel dynamics that have consequences in other systems.Polymer networks with gel-like properties arise in a wide range of physiological settings and processes. Better insight into how such gels are formed and how their properties are regulated is critical to understanding these important processes and how they can be manipulated to improve human health. Because the formation and regulation of biogels is governed by physical and chemical properties and because these properties can be expressed mathematically, mathematical tools can be brought to bear on these problems. Through mathematical analysis and computational simulations of biogels, a wealth of detailed data can be obtained that complements the data obtainable from traditional laboratory experiments. Hence the combination of mathematical and experimental investigators brought together in this project is expected to lead to important new insights about biogel behavior in important physiological and pathological situations including blood clotting, mucin secretion, and protection of the stomach lining.