BLADDER SURFACE MUCIN - ITS ANTIBACTERIAL EFFECT AGAINST VARIOUS BACTERIAL SPECIES

Abstract

The results of quantitative and histochemical studies implicating the surface mucin of the bladder mucosa as an important antibacterial defense mechanism, which functions by preventing bacteria from adhering to the bladder wall were previously reported. The mucin is called an anti-adherence factor and this may be a previously undocumented role for mucin as a type of host antibacterial defense. These experiments were conducted with Escherichia coli. In an effort to determine whether the anti-adherence ability of the vesical mucin [rabbit] was a generalized phenomenon, these studies were repeated, using unrelated bacterial species, including E. coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus. The ability of the vesical mucosa to resist bacterial adherence to its surface was independent of the bacterial species that was investigated.