Adhesion of fimbriate Escherichia coli to bovine mammary-gland epithelial cells in vitro.

The adhesion of bovine and a human isolate of Escherichia coli to epithelial cells from the teat and lactiferous sinuses of the udder was examined. Adhesion was detected with bacterial suspensions that produced mannose-sensitive agglutination of guinea-pig red cells. Adhesion to epithelial cells could be inhibited by mannose and the degree of adhesion occurring with a suspension correlated with its haemagglutinating activity. This demonstrated that fimbriae were responsible for the adhesion. The observation that whole milk inhibited attachment of E. coli to cells in vitro indicates that such attachment may not occur in vivo in the lactating cow.