Adhesion of different bifidobacteria strains to human enterocyte-like Caco-2 cells and comparison with in vivo study.

The validity of the in vitro adhesion tests performed with cultured cell lines, was determined in this study by comparison with results obtained in vivo, in a previous study. To make this experiment the in vitro adhesion tests were performed during a long period by utilization of an appropriate medium, to determine the capacity of the adhered strain to colonize the intestinal tract. It was demonstrated that the ability of the strain to adhere and colonize the intestinal cell in vivo or the cultured intestinal cells in intro was similar.