The adhesion of Listeria monocytogenes to intestinal endothelial cells is a crucial step in the infection process, which is not well understood. In this study, we evaluated the potential ability of bacteriocin-producing Enterococcus faecium, Leuconostoc mesenteroides and Lactobacillus sakei strains to prevent the adhesion and invasion of eukaryotic cells by ten different L. monocytogenes isolates. The results showed that E. faecium 130 co-cultured with L. monocytogenes was the most effective in preventing infection of Caco-2 cells, as the vast majority of isolates showed significantly lower adhesion counts and invasion rates below the quantification limit of the method (<30 cfu/plate). L. sakei 1 was the least effective strain in preventing L. monocytogenes infection; only one isolate presented a lower adhesion rate and two isolates reduced the invasion rate of Caco-2 cells. Fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) assay was shown to be an effective tool to illustrate and identify species in co-culture with L. monocytogenes during the adhesion process to Caco-2 cells.
Keywords: Caco-2 cells; FISH; infection.