FIG 5.

Effect of the compound on the adhesion of S. mutans biofilms. (A) Adhesion force characteristics of 24-h S. mutans biofilm measured by AFM. All measurements were obtained under PBS (pH 7.2). (B) Illustration of a typical force-distance curve between the AFM tip and the S. mutans biofilm. Hollow arrow, time of the final rupture event at a certain length away from the surface. Values represent the means ± standard deviations from three independent experiments. *, Significant difference compared with the untreated control (P < 0.05).