doctor doctor i feel like watching Operation Ouch you can watch him now on the free BBC iPlayer app
making mucus with Dr Chris this is like being in an incredible cookery show for people who
love picking their noses stop that pass me the conical flask mucus is 95 water it also has a
protein called mucin to make it slippery give it a good swell giving that a good old swerve salt to
help it move out of you lipids or fat to stop it drying out and antibodies to help fight infection
your body changes the recipe depending on the job and where in the body the mucus is it can also
come in different colours including green in this case we've gone for a lovely teal colour i don't
know what you'd think if you saw that coming out your nose but i think that's a really good
simulated mucus how much mucus do you think your body makes every day is it a 10 millilitres b 100
millilitres or c 1000 millilitres the answer is c 1 000 millilitres or 1 litre and this is about the
amount of mucus that you make every day mucus is a very important part of your body's defence system
speaking of defences Chris do you fancy a challenge well not if i'm going to be defeated
by mega mighty mucus man or something all right you can be mucus but i need to go and get changed
now where are my tights Xand coming tada i am dirty airborne particle soon
what's the challenge Chris you are mucus in the human body and your challenge is to keep me from
sneaking into the entrances to the human body and you have your work cut out for you Chris
because there are millions of me in every breath you take it's the dirty air versus mucus
showdown here's an operation you must perform head to wherever you download your apps
download the free BBC iPlayer app now and watch brand new operation ouch round one the mouth i
am ready to take this body down now the mouth is the perfect entry point here i go not so fast i've
got some salivary mucus right here that will stop you in your tracks i'm not worried about saliva
that's just the stuff that helps you swallow your food i'm moving further into the body
zone you underestimate the power of salivary mucus at your peril it traps you and you get swallowed
a big swallow let's wash you down into the stomach so you can be dissolved in stomach acid
i think that's one nil to mucus aka me round two the nose well the mouth may
have foiled my plans but i have another way in the nose luckily i've prepared for this
ah i'm trapped in the thick mucus-covered network of hairs in the nose mucus lines
the hair and insides of the nose trapping dirt and viruses from getting into the lungs
but occasionally some particles manage to get past the nasal defences
i've got free i'm free i'm almost free hang on
yes i'm free i'm free okay dirty airborne particle dude you won that round onwards
to the next bit of the body it's one all as we go into round three of the lungs time to get in
there and cause a terrible infection here i go i'm diving into the trachea to get to the lungs
protective mucus lines all the tubes of your breathing system
well maybe if i wriggle down a little further i can cause some trouble no chance of that Xand
my protective cilia are gonna waft you back up toward the mouth ah stop it no
cilia are like tiny hairs that push any dirty airborne particles trapped in the mucus away
from the lungs to protect them from infection oh the mucus goes in cilia so you can be cuffed out
that's 2-1 to me mucus wins so we've shown you that your body is a mucus-making factory
and mucus is an essential part of your immune system you make about a litre of the stuff
each day and this mighty mucus deals with dust dirt germs and bacteria by
trapping destroying and ejecting it to keep your body's airways healthy
well's on i beat you at your own challenge
you may have won the challenge Chris but it's your turn to clean the lab
i'm gonna get a cup of tea i think i've got a fever BBC iPlayer app fever i've just downloaded
it for free to watch brand new operation out whenever i want and you should do it too