Fig. 3

Inhibition of pathogen attachment to lung cells in the presence of different GAGs. a Effect on adhesion to A549 cells and to MRC5 cells of bacteria: Staphyloccocus aureus, Enteroccocus faecalis, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Streptoccocus pyogenes, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, and Serratia marcescens in the presence of different concentrations of each GAG individually and with a combination of all. b Comparative effect of the various individual GAG species and a mixture containing all of them on mean bacterial adherence to the different lung cell lines. c Comparison between lung cells with respect to the effect of the various different GAG species and a mixture of them all on mean bacterial adherence. Data are shown normalized to a control represented by binding in the absence of interfering molecules. The spreads represent standard deviation. Statistically significant differences are denoted by * for p < 0.05, and ** for p < 0.01