• Question: How is mucus formed?

    Asked by mynameismaria to Amy, Drew, Julia, Kimberley, Sara on 22 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Amy MacQueen

      Amy MacQueen answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      Hey!

      Mucus is produced by goblet cells in your body – they line tracts like the respiratory tract. The mucus that is produced is wafted up your throat by cells called “cilia” which are hair-like projections. Mucus is cool coz it traps all the dust and bugs we don’t want to breathe in! 🙂 Once it has wafted up our airways we swallow it (which sounds gross but then it goes into our stomach and the bugs get killed by our stomach acid so its actually kind of neat!!). Some people produce too much mucus which can cause lots of problems. The genetic diseases Cytic Fibrosis is one of these.

    • Photo: Julia Griffen

      Julia Griffen answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      Mucus is produced from special mucus glands, we can find these in our mouth, nose, digestive system, reproductive system… anywhere that’s wet! (nice!)..

      So mucus is basically thick plasma (watery fluid) that contains lots of enzymes and proteins and salts. So any bugs or nasty things it traps can be destroyed by the enzymes.

      So it;s formed in gland that secret it to where and when it’s needed..

    • Photo: Sara Imari Walker

      Sara Imari Walker answered on 22 Jun 2011:

      Wow! I just learned a lot from you to ladies! Thanks Amy and Julia, and thanks mynameismaria for asking such an interesting question! Its not one I would have thought to ask, but I am glad you did – the answer is pretty neat!

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