Fig 3.

L. reuteri inhibits staphylococcal adhesion and invasion of keratinocytes. (a) S. aureus (SA) adhered at approximately 5.5 ± 0.3 log₁₀ CFU/ml and L. reuteri (LRE) adhered at approximately 6.2 ± 0.1 log₁₀ CFU/ml. (b) Exclusion. Cells preexposed to L. reuteri before S. aureus (Pre-LRE) infection had significantly fewer staphylococci adhered to them (4.4 ± 0.4 log₁₀ CFU) than cells infected with S. aureus (SA) alone (5.7 ± 0.2 log₁₀ CFU). (c) Competition. Cells coinfected with L. reuteri (SA&LRE) had significantly fewer staphylococci adhered to them (4.4 ± 0.4 log₁₀ CFU) than cells infected with S. aureus (SA) alone (5.6 ± 0.1 log₁₀ CFU). (d) Displacement. There was no significant difference in the number of adherent staphylococci on cells exposed to L. reuteri after S. aureus infection had begun (Post-LRE) (5.3 ± 0.5 log₁₀ CFU), compared to cells infected with S. aureus (SA) alone (5.7 ± 0.3 log₁₀ CFU, P = 0.47). (e) Cells coinfected with L. reuteri had significantly fewer internalized staphylococci (4.5 ± 0.1 log₁₀ CFU) than cells infected with S. aureus alone (6.1 ± 0.1 log₁₀ CFU). All experiments utilized differentiating NHEK. Results are expressed as the mean ± SEM.