“…Lipid-free polysaccharides do not generally absorb to red blood cells, and Hammerling & Westphal (1967) have suggested that absorption depends on the formation of hydrophobic bonds between the lipid component of the erythrocyte membrane and the lipid-polysaccharide complex. Such a requirement would account for reports of the failure of preparations of purified teichoic acid to absorb to erythrocytes (Hofstad, 1965;Yoshida & Ekstedt, 1968). It has now been shown that lipoteichoic acid from Lactobacillus fermenti NCTC 6991 will absorb to normal sheep red blood cells, whereas the corresponding lipid-free product does not.…”