Fig 1.

Pathogenic synergy between C. albicans and S. oralis.A. Tongues of mice were excised after five days of infection and the dorsal aspect was digitally photographed. Representative pictures are shown from 1 mouse in each group.B. Overlay images of tongue tissue sections stained with a FITC-labelled anti-Candida antibody (green), followed by FISH with an Alexa 546-labelled S. oralis-specific probe (red), and counterstained with the nucleic acid stain Hoechst 33258 (blue). The FISH signal was completely absent in biofilms formed by C. albicans only. Bars = 50 μm.C. Oral pathology score based on percent tongue surface area covered by thrush (biofilm). Image J was used to calculate the area covered by the white plaque as well as the total dorsal surface area of each tongue in order to calculate percentage of surface area covered. Each dot represents an individual mouse with 8–12 mice per group. So: S. oralis 34, Ca: C. albicans 5314, CaSo: S. oralis + C. albicans. Median values of pathology scores in each infection group are designated by horizontal lines. *P < 0.01 for a comparison between Ca and CaSo groups.D. Body weight loss in each infection group during the five day infection period, expressed as percentage of initial weight (day 1) in 17–26 animals per group from 3 independent experiments. Error bars represent SEM. *P < 0.01 for a comparison between Ca and CaSo groups.