How do Lycium barbarum polysaccharides promote the adhesion of Lactobacillus to Caco-2 cells?

Adhesion is thought to increase host-bacterial interactions, thus enabling health benefits to the host. Production of exopolysaccharides increases the chance of probiotic survival in the gastrointestinal tract and promotes adhesion to the epithelium; In our previous research, LBP can be used as potential prebiotics. Therefore we hypothesize that LBP supported the adhesion of Lactobacillus spp. After adding LBP, the result showed that LBP promoted the adhesion of 7 Lactobacillus strains, Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM had the maximum adhesion rate ranging from 6.2 ± 1.16 to 25.5 ± 1.80 CFU/cell. Specifically, the components of LBP were analyzed by gas chromatography, We found that the similarity of polysaccharide components mainly promoted adhesion. After adding antibiotics, the Lactiplantibacillus plantarum LP-39 was affected; LBP was then added to revert from 5.0 ± 0.63 to 6.5 ± 0.67 CFU/cell. These findings suggest that LBP is potential prebiotics and can enhance the adhesion of Lactobacillus to Caco-2 cells.