INTERACTIONS OF BACTERIA WITH CONTACT-LENSES - THE EFFECT OF SOLUBLE-PROTEIN AND CARBOHYDRATE ON BACTERIAL ADHESION TO CONTACT-LENSES

Purpose During contact lens wear, components in the tear film adsorb t o the contact lens surface to form a protein-rich coating. In his stud y, we investigated the importance of these components in bacterial adh esion to contact lenses. Methods. Five strains of bacteria were Zest-e d for their ability to adhere to contact lenses (patient-worn; coated with lactoferrin, lysozyme, or an artificial tear formulation; or left uncoated) in the presence of various solutes (protein, carbohydrate). Bacterial adhesion was quantified by both a total count (light micros copy) and viable count (culturing an agar), Results. None of the solut es were found to competitively inhibit bacterial adhesion to worn cont act lenses. However, lactoferrin was observed to kill bacteria attache d as worn contact lenses. Conclusions. Ws could find no evidence to in dicate that bacterial adhesion to contact lenses is mediated by specif ic interactions between bacteria and contact lens-bound tear component s. The interaction between attached bacteria and lactoferrin may be im portant in initiating inflammatory responses to contact lens wear.