Skip to main content
PMC home page
Infection and Immunity logoLink to Infection and Immunity
. 1981 Oct;34(1):256–261. doi: 10.1128/iai.34.1.256-261.1981

Modified method for studying bacterial adhesion to isolated uroepithelial cells and uromucoid.

S Chick, M J Harber, R Mackenzie, A W Asscher
PMCID: PMC350850  PMID: 7028629

Abstract

Several problems have been encountered with the application of published methods for the study of bacterial adherence to isolated uroepithelial cells. Of particular importance is the observation that urinary mucus traps some organisms but not others. Established techniques have been modified to overcome these difficulties and so allow a distinction to be made between adherence of bacteria to uromucoid and adherence to uroepithelial cells per se. The modified method was used to assess the ability of 34 urinary isolates of Escherichia coli to adhere to uroepithelial cells, uromucoid, or both after serial subculture in nutrient broth. The ability of the organisms to produce mannose-sensitive (MS) agglutination of guinea pig erythrocytes and mannose-resistant (MR) agglutination of human erythrocytes was tested simultaneously and taken to indicate possession of MS type 1 fimbriae andated MR fimbriae, respectively. Results revealed that only MS-positive organisms adhered to uromucoid (P less than 0.001), whereas MR-positive strains showed significantly greater attachment to uroepithelial cells than did MR-negative strains (P less than 0.05). These observations demand that published data derived from the use of a methodology in which no differentiation can be made between adherence to uromucoid and adherence to cells should be interpreted with caution.

Full text

PDF
256

Images in this article

259Image
on p.259

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Duguid J. P., Clegg S., Wilson M. I. The fimbrial and non-fimbrial haemagglutinins of Escherichia coli. J Med Microbiol. 1979 May;12(2):213–227. doi: 10.1099/00222615-12-2-213. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Eden C. S., Eriksson B., Hanson L. A. Adhesion of Escherichia coli to human uroepithelial cells in vitro. Infect Immun. 1977 Dec;18(3):767–774. doi: 10.1128/iai.18.3.767-774.1977. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Fowler J. E., Jr, Stamey T. A. Studies of introital colonization in women with recurrent urinary infections. VII. The role of bacterial adherence. J Urol. 1977 Apr;117(4):472–476. doi: 10.1016/s0022-5347(17)58501-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Gibbons R. J., van Houte J. Selective bacterial adherence to oral epithelial surfaces and its role as an ecological determinant. Infect Immun. 1971 Apr;3(4):567–573. doi: 10.1128/iai.3.4.567-573.1971. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Källenius G., Winberg J. Bacterial adherence to periurethral epithelial cells in girls prone to urinary-tract infections. Lancet. 1978 Sep 9;2(8089):540–543. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(78)92880-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Orskov I., Ferencz A., Orskov F. Tamm-Horsfall protein or uromucoid is the normal urinary slime that traps type 1 fimbriated Escherichia coli. Lancet. 1980 Apr 19;1(8173):887–887. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(80)91396-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Orskov I., Orskov F., Birch-Andersen A. Comparison of Escherichia coli fimbrial antigen F7 with type 1 fimbriae. Infect Immun. 1980 Feb;27(2):657–666. doi: 10.1128/iai.27.2.657-666.1980. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Parsons C. L., Anwar H., Stauffer C., Schmidt J. D. In vitro adherence of radioactively labeled Escherichia coli in normal and cystitis-prone females. Infect Immun. 1979 Nov;26(2):453–457. doi: 10.1128/iai.26.2.453-457.1979. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Schaeffer A. J., Amundsen S. K., Jones J. M. Effect of carbohydrates on adherence of Escherichica coli to human urinary tract epithelial cells. Infect Immun. 1980 Nov;30(2):531–537. doi: 10.1128/iai.30.2.531-537.1980. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Schaeffer A. J., Amundsen S. K., Schmidt L. N. Adherence of Escherichia coli to human urinary tract epithelial cells. Infect Immun. 1979 Jun;24(3):753–759. doi: 10.1128/iai.24.3.753-759.1979. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Uehling D. T., Mizutani K., Balish E. Effect of immunization of bacterial adherence to urothelium. Invest Urol. 1978 Sep;16(2):145–147. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Infection and Immunity are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES