Adhesion of Staphylococcus aureus to fibrinogen, collagen and lectin in relation to cell surface structure.

The adherence of an encapsulated strain of Staphylococcus aureus, S-P, and its variants to fibrinogen-, collagen-, and lectin-coated hydroxyapatite were compared. The parent strain, S-P, possesses a large capsule while its variants S-A and S-B possess a small capsule and microcapsule, respectively. The third variant, S-C, has no capsule. Adherence to proteinaceous substances varied according to the strains. While all four strains showed a similar degree of adhesion to collagen, the adhesion of strains S-A, S-B and S-C to fibrinogen and lectin differed from those of strain S-P. The effect of physical and enzymatic pretreatment of the strains on adhesion characteristics was measured. Generally, these results suggest that both carbohydrate and protein moieties on cell surface may be involved in adherence. In addition, the inhibition of adhesion by cell-surface polymers and monosaccharides was measured. The inhibition of adhesion of large capsulated (S-P) and unencapsulated (S-C) strains by proteinaceous substances differed. The large capsulated strain (S-P) of S. aureus had different adherence capacities in early-, mid-, or late log phases of growth, whereas the adherence capacities of the unencapsulated strain S-C remained nearly constant.