Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection of the cornea and asialo GM1.

Extensive immunohistochemical and thin-layer chromatogram-immunostain analyses were carried out to establish whether asialo GM1, a glycolipid which contains binding sites for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, is present in corneal epithelium. The data suggest that rabbit corneal epithelium does not contain detectable levels of asialo GM1 even after corneas are scarified and incubated with trypsin, P. aeruginosa, or P. aeruginosa exoproducts to expose potential cryptic sites. Preliminary immunohistochemical analyses indicated that asialo GM1 is also not found in human corneas.