Absorption of fibronectin from human saliva by strains of oral streptococci

Freshly collected human submandibular/sublingual saliva contained between 1.0 and 26.1 micrograms/ml of fibronectin as determined by ELISA. 10(9) organism of 12 oral streptococcal strains tested removed between 2.6 and 89.4% of the fibronectin present in 400 microliters saliva. Fibronectin was retained in bacterial pellets after washings in buffer but could be eluted using 1 M NaCl.