Role of membrane glycosphingolipids as Pseudomonas aeruginosa adhesin receptor in rabbit bladder mucosa.

The adhesiveness of a mucous strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to rabbit bladder mucosa was studied after preincubation of the microorganism with several glycolipids with different carbohydrate moieties to investigate their importance in the interaction with bacterial adhesins. Vesical cells were also treated with lectins (limulin and soybean) to confirm the role of saccharides as membrane receptor. The results obtained showed that galactose-containing glycolipids were able, in varying degrees, to reduce bacterial binding. The most active compounds were glycosphingolipids with negatively charged terminal groups. Lectin treatment of bladder mucosal cells confirmed the importance of galactose and sialic acid as mucosal cell membrane receptors for P. aeruginosa.