The protective effect of heparin in experimental bladder infection.

The surface mucopolysaccharide layer of the urinary bladder has been shown to interfere with bacterial attachment, and we therefore consider it to be the primary mechanism of combatting bacterial colonization and subsequent infection. Experimentally, hydrochloric acid alters this layer in such a way as to permit massive bacterial adsorption to the vesical mucosa. Heparin, an acid mucopolysaccharide, was instilled into rabbit bladders that had their naturally occurring mucopolysaccharide altered by hydrochloric acid. Heparin was shown to inhibit the attachment of inoculated Escherichia coli to these acid-treated bladder mucosas, and the degree of protection afforded was similar to that of the mucopolysaccharide layer of the intact urothelium.