Adhesive Property of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bifidobacterium lactis</Emphasis> LKM512 and Predominant Bacteria of Intestinal Microflora to Human Intestinal Mucin

The adhesive property to the intestinal mucin of Bifidobacterium lactis LKM512, B. longum, B. breve, B. bifidum, B. adolescentis, B. infantis, Bacteroides vulgatus, Bacteroides distasonis, Eubacterium aerofaciens, Clostridium perfringens, Escherichia coli, and Lactobacillus acidophilus were examined. Adhesive rate of LKM512 to the mucin was significantly (p < 0.05, 0.01, or 0.001) stronger than the other strains from 2 to 100 time. Though the adhesive property of many strains was almost same to the mucin of 20-year-old and 50-year-old generations, in case of 4-month-old was different. Adhesive inhibitory effect of C. perfringens to the mucin by LKM512 was examined. Under the condition that LKM512 was 10⁸/ml and that C. perfringens was 10⁶/ml, adhesion of C. perfringens to the mucin was inhibited at 99.6%, when LKM512 adhered in advance. There was the strong inhibition of adhesion at 74.0%, when C. perfringens adhered to mucin in advance. Thus, LKM512 can inhibit the adhesion of harmful bacteria to the intestinal mucin, the possibility of using as a probiotic strain has to be verified.