Figure 3. Adhesion characteristics of recombinant Lactobacillus paracasei (Lbp^LAP) to Caco-2 cells.

(a) Adhesion of Lbp^LAP was compared with wild type Lb. paracasei (Lbp^WT) and L. monocytogenes (Lm). Bacterial cells were incubated with anti-LAP MAb-H7 or immunoglobulin G controls (MAb EM-7G1) (1 µg/ml) for 30 min at room temperature, washed and added to Caco-2 cells. The number of bacterial cells that adhered to the monolayer were enumerated. Percent adhesion was calculated relative to the inoculums that were added to the Caco-2 cells for the adhesion assay. Data are average (SD) of three independent experiments performed in duplicate. Bars marked with letters (a, b) indicate significant difference at P<0.05. (b) Representative Giemsa-stained Caco-2 cell monolayers showing visual evidence for qualitative adhesion characteristics of Lbp^WT and Lbp^LAP cells. Bar, 10 µm.