Inhibition by pectic oligosaccharides of the invasion of undifferentiated and differentiated Caco-2 cells by Campylobacter jejuni

The ability of pectic oligosaccharides (POS) to inhibit adherence to and invasion of undifferentiated (UC) and differentiated (DC) Caco-2 cells by Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) was investigated. It was observed that both adherence and invasion were significantly higher in UC than in DC. POS (2.5 mg/ml) had no significant effect on the number of bacteria which can adhere to cells, but they significantly inhibited cell invasion. The extent of the anti-invasive effect of POS was dependent on the concentration, although the entire range tested (from 2.5 mg/ml to 0.05 mg/ml) was capable of inhibiting the invasion of Caco-2 cells by Campylobacter to some degree. The pre-incubation or not of C jejuni with POS did not influence the behaviour observed. The results obtained in this work suggest that POS could be potentially useful as alternatives to antibiotics in the control of C. jejuni.