Research Supports D-Mannose for UTIs
Bacterial adherence to mucosa is thought to be an initial and important stage to cause urinary tract infection. Among some mechanisms of bacterial adherence, the role of fimbriae and its receptor is worthy of notice. In particular, type 1 fimbriae, for which mannose is assumed as a receptor, is reported as the most common type and called “common fimbriae”.

Therefore if a certain amount of mannose is present in urine, it will cover the fimbriae of bacteria and competitively block the bacterial adherence to bladder mucosa. As the first step, we tried to detect mannose in urine by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Sugar can be measured by detecting the fluorescence which is produced by a sugar separated by ion exchange, reacting with arginine at high temperature.

The results using standard sugar samples should have highly stable retention time and concentration curve with the minimum detectable mannose concentration of 0.02 microgram. We investigated mannose in urine from 186 cases. Since the mannose peak was often masked by near unidentified peaks, the peak of mannose could be detected only in 80 cases and its concentration could be measured only in 24 cases.

Mannose concentration in the urine of the 24 cases was between 2.6 and 108.7 micrograms/ml and in most of cases it was lower than 20 micrograms/ml. Secondary, we examined the possibility of a mannose in urine to prevent bacterial adherence to mucosa by the hemagglutination test using guinea pig erythrocytes and type 1 fimbriated E.

The majority of infectious diseases are initiated by adhesion of pathogenic organisms to the tissues of the host. In many cases, this adhesion is mediated by lectins present on the surface of the infectious organism that bind to complementary carbohydrates on the surface of the host tissues.

Lectin-deficient mutants often lack ability to initiate infection. Soluble carbohydrates recognized by the bacterial lectins block the adhesion of the bacteria to animal cells in vitro. Moreover, they have also been shown to protect against experimental infection by lectin-carrying bacteria in different organs of mammals such as mice, rabbits, calves and monkeys coli.

Safe as mother’s milk
The majority of infectious diseases are initiated by adhesion of pathogenic organisms to the tissues of the host. In many cases, this adhesion is mediated by lectins present on the surface of the infectious organism that bind to complementary carbohydrates on the surface of the host tissues. Lectin-deficient mutants often lack ability to initiate infection.

Soluble carbohydrates recognized by the bacterial lectins block the adhesion of the bacteria to animal cells in vitro. Moreover, they have also been shown to protect against experimental infection by lectin-carrying bacteria in different organs of mammals such as mice, rabbits, calves and monkeys.
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