Fig 2.

L. reuteri protects keratinocytes only if added prior to infection with S. aureus. (a) Percentage of viability was significantly higher in cells that were coinfected (SA&LRE) (57.1% ± 2%, P = 0.0016) and preexposed (Pre) for 1 h (63.6% ± 5.6%, P = 0.0003), 2 h (56.1% ± 1.2%, P = 0.0022), and 4 h (52.4% ± 4.1%, P = 0.0066) with L. reuteri compared to S. aureus (SA)-infected cells (29.8% ± 3.8%). (b) There was no significant difference between the viability of cells treated with L. reuteri 1 h (25.8% ± 0.6%), 2 h (29.3% ± 2.6%), or 4 h (33.6% ± 4.9%) after infection had begun (Post) and cells that had been infected with S. aureus (SA) alone (29.9% ± 3.4%) (P > 0.05). Both experiments utilized differentiating NHEK. Results are expressed as the mean ± SEM.