Escherichia coli adherence to HEp-2 cells with prefixed cells

Abstract

We describe a new method which uses cold absolute methanol-prefixed cells for adherence of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli to HEp-2 cells. We found that a method using bacteria grown in Penassay broth to 106 to 107 CFU/ml and incubated with prefixed cells for 3 h at 37°C, showed 100% sensitivity and specificity against a method using live cells.