A New Screening Method for the Selection of Lactobacillus acidophilus Group Lactic Acid Bacteria with High Adhesion to Human Colonic Mucosa

A hemagglutination (HA) assay was done for the screening of lectin-like components in surface layer protein (SLP) from Lactobacillus (L.) acidophilus A group strains. The new screening method, using polystyrene beads coated with rat-colonic mucin (RCM), which combines sugar chains similar to those of human colonic mucin, was also done. The results showed that the HA assay was not a good indicator for selecting strains having high adhesion to the human intestinal tract. The SLPs from 3 strains that strongly bound to RCM also bound well to carbohydrate portions of Carnoy’s-fixed human colonic mucous layer. These results suggest that this method is a new promising screening technique for the L. acidophilus strains having high adhesion to the human intestinal tract.