Fig. 6.

Representative atomic force microscopy images showing the ultrastructural details of Borrelia biofilm before and after treatment with antimicrobial agents. The preparations of B. burgdorferi strain B31 biofilms on chamber slides are described in Materials and methods section. All biofilms were scanned at 0.4 Hz using contact mode and the individual Z ranges (height) are indicated next to each panel by means of a scale. The images were scanned using the Nanosurf Easyscan 2 software, and the images were processed using Gwyddion software. All antibiotics individually as well as in combination were used at a concentration of 10 μg/ml. Stevia A was used at a concentration of 1.2 μg/ml. Abbreviations: doxycycline – DoxC, cefoperazone – CefP, Daptomycin – DapM