Quantifying the strength of bacterial adhesive interactions with salivary glycoproteins.
We adapted an assay that has been used to estimate the strength of eukaryotic cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix adhesive interactions (McClay et al., 1981) to quantify the strength of bacterial (streptococci, fusobacteria, actinomyces) interactions with salivary receptors. Bacteria are centrifuged onto human submandibular/sublingual or parotid-saliva-coated microtiter wells. Plates are sealed with pressure-sensitive, double-sided tape which allows them to be inverted and centrifuged again. The force required to remove the bacteria from the coated wells is a direct measure of the adhesive strength of the interaction(s) being disrupted. The bacteria-saliva adhesive forces we detected ranged from 1.6 x 10(-8) dynes (Streptococcus sanguis 72-40) to > 1.1 x 10(-7) dynes (Actinomyces viscosus T14 V). These forces were in the range to withstand the shear stress produced by salivary flow, which we calculated as approximately 6.1 x 10(-7) dynes.
Prakobphol
A
A
Department of Stomatology, University of California, San Francisco 94143-0512, USA.
Burdsal
C A
CA
Fisher
S J
SJ
D016924:Actinomyces viscosus / Q000502:physiology; D000268:Adhesiveness; D001422:Bacterial Adhesion / Q000502:physiology*; D002498:Centrifugation; D016967:Fusobacterium nucleatum / Q000502:physiology; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008433:Mathematics; D012471:Salivary Proteins and Peptides / Q000378:metabolism*; D013295:Streptococcus mutans / Q000502:physiology; D013298:Streptococcus sanguis / Q000502:physiology
D006023:Glycoproteins; D012471:Salivary Proteins and Peptides