AEM
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Pérez, P. F.
Right arrow Articles by De Antoni, G. L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Pérez, P. F.
Right arrow Articles by De Antoni, G. L.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Pérez, P. F.
Right arrow Articles by De Antoni, G. L.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Appl Environ Microbiol, January 1998, p. 21-26, Vol. 64, No. 1
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Surface Properties of Bifidobacterial Strains of Human Origin

Pablo F. Pérez,1,2 Yessica Minnaard,1,2 Edgardo A. Disalvo,3 and Graciela L. De Antoni1,2,*

Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos,1 and Cátedra de Microbiología General,2 Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, and Laboratorio de Fisicoquímica de Membranas Lipídicas y Liposomas, Química General e Inorgánica, Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires,3 Argentina

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.

* 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.




This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
J. Bacteriol. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. Eukaryot. Cell All ASM Journals

Copyright © 1998 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.