FIG. 2.

Invasion of HCEC by S. aureus. HCEC monolayers were incubated for 1 h in the presence of S. aureus. Monolayers were washed, and extracellular bacteria were killed by the addition of gentamicin. Monolayers were homogenized, serially diluted, and plated for enumeration of viable intracellular bacteria. Data represent mean values + standard errors of the means for duplicate experiments, each performed in triplicate. Asterisk indicates statistically significant reduction in internalization (P < 0.05, Student's t test) compared to wild-type internalization.