[Adhesion of group B streptococci to vaginal epithelial cells]

The work presents the results of studies on the optimum and standard conditions for the in vitro determination of the adhesiveness of group B streptococci with epithelial cell suspensions. Vaginal epithelium has proved to be the most convenient and adequate system for studying the adhesiveness of group B streptococci. The optimum infective dose of these bacteria has been found to range from 50 to 200 cocci per cell. The characteristics of the adhesion of group B streptococci to vaginal epithelium are highly reproducible and exhibit low dependence on the time of the incubation of the bacteria with epithelial cells; fluctuations in the adhesiveness of the cultures in the definite range of pH shifts are seemingly determined by the serotype of the strains.