Strategies for studying bacterial adhesion in Vivo

The ultimate goal of studies on microbial adhesion is to understand what molecular interactions between the host and microbe occur in vivo and the impact of these interactions on disease processes. With this goal in mind, the problem can be approached at four levels. At the biochemical level, the host receptors at the relevant colonization site are identified; at the cell biology level, consequences of bacterial binding to host epithelial cells are studied in cell culture; at the physiological level, the consequences of bacterial binding are studied in experimental animals or humans; and at the population level, the consequences of receptor binding for colonization are studied by epidemiological methods. This chapter provides an example of studies at each level and discusses the implications for what might occur in vivo.