Adhesiveness of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to rabbit vesical mucosa effect of glycosidases on cellular binding.

The adhesiveness of a mucous strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to rabbit bladder mucosa has been investigated after pretreatment of the vesical mucosa with different glycosidases. Using a simple apparatus the study was carried out in parallel on samples of untreated and pre-treated mucosa. The results obtained showed that the cleavage of terminal sugar by addition of neuraminidase, N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase, alpha-mannosidase, alpha-L-fucosidase and beta-galactosidase produced a decrease in the number of adhered bacteria. A more drastic enzymatic action due to the combined effect of neuraminidase + alpha-L-fucosidase and neuraminidase + beta-galactosidase produced, on the other hand, an increased adhesion of bacteria, probably due to an unmasking of new receptor sites.