THE ABILITY OF PROBIOTIC BACTERIA TO BIND TO HUMAN INTESTINAL MUCUS

Human mucus was isolated from faecal samples of newborns, two and six month old infants and adults. The adhesion to this mucus by the bacter ia mentioned below was assessed in vitro. Depending on the age group: 44-46% of the applied Lactobacillus GG, 23-30% of Bifidobacterium lact is Bb-12, 9-14% of Lactobacillus johnsonii LJ-1, 3-10% of Lactobacillu s salivarius LM2-118, Lactobacillus crispatus M247, Lactobacillus para casei F19 and 2% of L, crispatus Mu5 adhered. All the strains adhered better to the mucus of adults than to that of infants. With some of th e strains significant differences between the infant age groups were a lso observed. In conclusion, the age of the target group may be worth; oi. consideration when planning a schedule for probiotic or functional food therapy. (C) 1998 Federation of European Microbiological Societi es. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.