The Journal of Medical Microbiology, Vol 47, Issue 2 129-134, Copyright © 1998 by Society for General Microbiology

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Effects of characterised Pseudomonas aeruginosa exopolysaccharides on adherence to human tracheal cells

N. Marty, C. Pasquier, J. L. Dournes, K. Chemin, F. Chavagnat, M. Guinand, G. Chabanon, B. Pipy and H. Montrozier
Laboratoire de Microbiologie, Universite Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.

This study evaluated, in vitro, the role of different Pseudomonas aeruginosa exopolysaccharides (EPS) in mediating adherence to human respiratory epithelial cells. Two mucoid and non-mucoid isogenic pairs of P aeruginosa strains isolated from patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) and bronchiectasis were used. Adherence was tested with human tracheal epithelial cell lines from CF and normal fetuses. The CF cells bound significantly more bacteria than the normal cells. The strain from the bronchiectasis patient was significantly more adherent than that from the CF patient and this difference was consistently most marked with the non-mucoid variant and with normal epithelial cells. The differing behaviour of mucoid CF and non-mucoid bronchiectasis strains reflected the chemical composition of their EPS: mainly alginate in the former and neutral polysaccharides in the latter. Additive inhibition experiments with chemically characterised EPS indicated that neutral polysaccharides associated with alginate may act as ligands for the adherence of P. aeruginosa to CF epithelial cells.

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