As the mucous layer represents the first barrier to peroral lectin-mediated drug delivery, the influence of mucin on the cytoadhesive properties of lectins was studied in vitro by establishing a rapid and simple microplate format assay using pig gastric mucin (PGM) for coating the wells. The lectin-binding capacity of mucin followed the order WGA>>UEA-I>>LCA=STL>PNA>DBA. The PGM-binding of wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) was strongly dependent on pH being highest at pH 5.0. In comparison, PGM-binding of WGA was about 15% at gastric pH and 60-70% at intestinal pH. This points to unimpeded gastric transit of WGA-grafted formulations and favorable conditions within the intestine for binding to mucus coated enterocytes. Moreover the WGA-PGM interaction was concentration-dependent, specific and fully reversible. According to a competitive assay in the presence of Caco-2 monolayers, the PGM-binding of WGA was saturated and influenced by the lectin-concentration yielding 28% Caco-2 bound WGA (125 ng WGA/0.29 cm(2) monolayer) and 68% Caco-2 bound WGA (4 microg WGA/0.29 cm(2) monolayer), respectively. Following on from these results, lectins are expected to suffer at least partially from premature inactivation by shed off mucus like bioadhesives of the first generation, however initial but reversible mucus-binding of lectins offers partititioning to the cell membrane followed by uptake into the enterocyte.