2.5. Adherence to intestinal epithelial cells
Adherence assays were performed by adding about 1 × 108 CFU/well of each isolated strain into a monolayer of HT-29 cells. This mixture was incubated at 37 °C for 2 h under 5% CO2. Nonadherent cells were removed by washing 4 times with DPBS (Invitrogen). The wells were treated with 1 mL of 0.1% Triton X-100, and harvested. Serial dilutions of the harvested samples were spread on MRS medium and incubated at 37 °C for 24 h. L. acidophilus CH-2 was used as the control. Adhesion (%) was calculated as follows: