Abstract
Four species of enteric rods mainly coaggregated with Actinomyces and Candida in a strain-specific manner. Enterobacter cloacae showed the highest reactivity with the oral microorganisms, followed by Serratia marcescens, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae in this order. The coaggregation reactions were mediated by heat-labile components on the cell surface of enteric rods. The addition of mannose reversed some of the coaggregation reactions but did not influence the others, indicating that the reactions include mannose-sensitive and mannose-resistant adhesins on the enteric rods. Twelve out of 20 enteric strains were also aggregated by human whole saliva. Coaggregation with indigenous oral microorganisms and aggregation mediated by saliva potentially promote the colonization of pathogenic enteric rods in the oral cavity.
