Escherichia coli adherence to the intestine of mice.

Bacterial attachment to the intestine is the first step in the initiation of many intestinal infections. The effect of mucin and its major constituents on the adherence of a mannose-positive Escherichia coli strain to various intestinal segments of mouse intestine was examined. Removal of intestinal mucus led to increased adherence of E. coli to the ileal and colonic mucosal layers. Ileal mucin significantly decreased E. coli attachment to the ileum. Galactose and galactosamine were the major constituents of ileal mucin that reduced E. coli adherence to the ileum. We conclude that ileal mucin protects the epithelial cell from adherence by this mannose-positive E. coli strain. This protection is dependent on the presence of other sugar moieties that may be of importance in the adherence process.