The adhesion ability is affected by many factors, among which is
the production of EPS. In this work, the production of EPS was only
assayed for the strains with a higher percentage of adhesion
(P. pentosaceus CIAL-86, L. plantarum CIAL-121) and for the reference
probiotic strain L. plantarum CLC 17. The so-called “ropy” character
was visually detected for all of them (results not shown). Therefore,
the structure of EPS may promote strain-specific interactions of
bacteria with specific receptors and effectors of Caco-2 cells.