BLADDER SURFACE MUCIN - EXAMINATION OF POSSIBLE MECHANISMS FOR ITS ANTIBACTERIAL EFFECT

  • 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 16  (3) , 196-200
Abstract
Physiologic and histochemical data implicating the bladder surface mucin layer as an important new antibacterial defense mechanism was previously provided. This mucin or its contents seems to act as an antiadherence factor, inhibiting bacterial adherence to the bladder mucosa and facilitating the removal of bacteria by the voiding process. The present study was designed to investigate 3 mechanisms by which the mucin might repel bacterial attachment. Ig[immunoglobulin]A or a chelating agent are apparently not anti-adherence factors, but pH had a significant effect on the adherence of bacteria to mucosal cells stripped of their mucin layer. Electrochemical charge is apparently important in bacterial adherence. The mucin layer may provide an electrochemical coat on the bladder surface that is a poor substrate for bacterial adherence and may block the receptor sites of the transitional cells to which the microbes might adhere. [Escherichia coli and rabbits were used.].