FIG. 6.

Effect of ionic strength on the adhesion of A. fumigatus conidia to fibronectin and basal lamina. Peroxidase-labeled conidia were added to fibronectin-coated (A) or basal-lamina-coated (B) microtiter plates in the presence of increasing amounts of NaCl in the assay buffer (PBS): 0.2×, 1.6 g/liter; 0.5×, 4.0 g/liter; 1×, 8.0 g/liter (standard PBS amount); 2×, 16.0 g/liter; 5×, 40.0 g/liter; and 10×, 80.0 g/liter. Unbound conidia were removed by washing the plates with PBS–0.05% Tween 20, and the number of bound conidia was determined by measuring the optical density (OD) at 490 nm. Background wells contained BSA only. The values are the means ± standard deviations of triplicate wells. These figures are representative of two independent experiments. ∗, P < 0.05 versus 1× NaCl in PBS.