The Brush-Border Adhesion Test for the Assessment of the Adhesive Ability of Escherichia Coli Pathogenic to Pigs, Calves and Lambs

Abstract

The brush-border adhesion test is a test that can adequately assess the ability of E. coli to attach to brush-borders prepared from the small intestine of animals which may be potential hosts for the organism and in which it may cause diarrhoea. The method involves the preparation of brush-borders from the small intestinal epithelial cells of the potential host; the culturing of the coliform so that the adhesive surface antigens are produced and observation by phase contrast microscopy of attachment or no attachment when both brush-borders and bacteria are mixed together.

Laboratory manual of the Biochemistry Department, Institute for Research on Animal Diseases, Compton, Berkshire, England