Why is the mucus thicker than normal in CF patients A good a

Why is the mucus thicker than normal in CF patients? A good answer will include a description of how osmosis is affected by CF.

Solution

Mucus is a substance that coats our Epithelial surface.It keeps surfaces lubricated and helps prevent disease by trapping potential invaders.Invading microbes can become trapped in the mucus.The epithelial cells are lined with cilia that are constantly beating and moving mucus with trapped bacteria up and out of the respiratory tract.Mucus is amixture of predominantly water and glycproteins.The mucins are produced by goblet cell that are interspersed among the respiratory epithelial cell.The composition,water content and volume of mucus are controlled by the secretion and absorption of ions and water across the respiratory epithelium.The salt imbalance resulting from a disfuctional chloride channel could through osmosis lead to the thick mucus characterstic of cystic fibrosis mutation could lead to disease.cystic fibrosis is a thick that lines both the airways and the intestinal tract of affected individual.In the respiratory tract this thick mucus is not removed by the cillia that usually beat and push mucus up into the throat.This thick mucus builds up in the airways and bacteria trapped in the mucus are not removed.Thus bacterial respiratory infections are extremely common and dangerous in CF individuals.