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Appl Environ Microbiol, January 1998, p. 21-26, Vol. 64, No. 1
Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en
Criotecnología de Alimentos,1 and
Cátedra de Microbiología
General,
Received 6 August 1996/Accepted 8 October 1997
The adherence of Bifidobacterium strains isolated from
infant feces and commercial fermented dairy products to enterocyte-like cells was correlated with the autoagglutination and hemagglutination properties of these organisms. These results allowed us to define two
groups: (i) cell-adherent bacteria showing hemagglutination and
autoagglutination and (ii) non-cell-adherent, nonhemagglutinating, nonautoagglutinating bacteria. Glass adherence was shown to be nonspecific and was discarded as a criterion for selection of adherent
cells. Hydrophobicity appeared to be necessary for adhesion to
enterocyte-like cells and autoagglutination. Adhesive strains were
highly hydrophobic, and the degree of adherence was slightly dependent
on the surface potential. Cells autoagglutinated more when the
electrostatic negative charges on the cell surface were shielded by a
decrease in the pH from 7 to 2. However, in some strains negative
charges at the cell surface were adjuvant to adhesion, thus suggesting
that specific chemical interactions occurred. The present results
provide a method for preliminary selection of bacteria potentially
adherent to epithelial cells by means of autoagglutination.
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Surface Properties of Bifidobacterial Strains of
Human Origin
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Centro de
Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de
Alimentos, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Nacional de La
Plata, 47 y 116, 1900 La Plata, Argentina. Phone and Fax:
54-21-254853, 54-21-249287, and 54-21-890741. E-mail:
gdantoni{at}biol.unlp.edu.ar.
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