Role of surface mucin in primary antibacterial defense of bladder.

Histochemical staining of bladder tissue has demonstrated a discrete layer of mucopolysaccharide (mucin) at the surface of rabbit and human bladders. This mucin is disrupted by acid treatment and is probably resynthesized by the transitional cells in less than twenty-four hours and replaced by forty-eight hours. Physiologic data indicate that bladder mucose can resist bacterial attachment, a function that is also disrupted by acid and recovers in less than twenty-four hours. These findings suggest that the surface mucopolysaccharide inhibits bacterial binding and may be the primary antibacterial defense of the urinary tract.