ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the fact that the primary ecological function of bacterial adherence to body surfaces, namely resistance to physical removal, may be accomplished by means other than direct adhesion to tooth or cell surfaces, namely by association with the mucous gel. It discusses chemotaxis and some other factors that are of importance in the penetration of mucous gel in experimental Vibrio Cholerae. Mucous gel is generally thought to have a protective function for mucous membranes. In the stomach the mucous blanket appears to form an unstirred layer that allows bicarbonate secreted by epithelial cells to neutralize hydrochloric acid. The protective effect of mucous gel against microbial colonization has been studied most thoroughly in the respiratory tract. The protective roles of mucous gel may serve to promote rather than inhibit bacterial colonization. Chemotaxis was of considerable importance to bacterial growth in every one of the experimental in vitro and in vivo models of cholera.
