Fig 4.
Effect of immunization of EGF rats with rSesC on S. epidermidis 10b biofilm formation. Rats (n = 6) were divided into two groups of three rats each. Rats in the vaccine group were immunized twice intraperitoneally with rSesC. Rats in the control group were injected with the same volume of normal saline. At 2 weeks after the second immunization, the immune response was tested by ELISA. Subsequently, catheter fragments preincubated with S. epidermidis strain 10b (∼104 cells/catheter) were implanted in rats and 24 h later explanted, and the numbers of adherent bacteria on the catheters were quantified. The experiment was repeated twice. Data for each group were obtained from adherent bacteria to 30 catheter fragments implanted in six rats (five catheters per animal, three rats per group in each experiment, two groups, two independent experiments). The error bars indicate the standard errors of the mean.