• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.86-91
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• 2004

The ability of probiotics containing Lactobacillus acidophilus to adhere to the intestinal epithelium may play an important role in colonization of the gastrointestinal tract and preventing enteric pathogen such as enterohemorrhagic E. coli(EHEC O157:H7. In the study, we investigated the adhesion to human intestinal epithelial cells(HT-29) of strains of L. acidophilus(3 from human, 2 from pig, and 1 from calf). All of the tested strains of L. acidophilus were highly observed adhesion ability(from 10$\^$6/ to 10$\^$7/ cfu/mL), compared to L. rhamnosus GG as control. Also, adhered strains of L. acidophilus were significantly preserved in serial wash-out steps. However, no correlation could be observed between cell surface hydrophobicity and adhesion abilities of the tested strains of L. acidophilus. Inhibition of adhesion of EHEC O157:H7 was also examined, a 2 log cycle reduction was observed by all of the tested strains of L. acidophilus. These results suggest that the strains of L. acidophilus with high adhesion ability are resistant to wash-out and adhesion ability inhibition by selected strains of L. acidophilus helps to prevent adhesion of EHEC O157:H7 to intestinal epithelial cells.