Figure 2.

Pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines induced by the different S. epidermidis populations. BALB/c mice were challenged intravenously with 1 × 10⁸ planktonic (P), biofilm (B), biofilm-released (BR) cells, or sham-infected treated with PBS alone (PBS). The serum levels of the indicated cytokines were assessed 2, 6 and 14 h after infection. The obtained results are displayed as the concentration, in ρg/mL, and the horizontal bars represent the median with range of 1 (6 and 14 h time points) to 2 independent (2 h time point) experiments that, per time point, presented the following number of animals: PBS n = 2/2/2; P n = 10/5/5; BR n = 10/5/5; B n = 10/5/5. Statistical differences among infected groups were evaluated using Kruskal–Wallis (Overall ANOVA P < 0.05) and post hoc Dunn's multiple comparison tests. ^*P < 0.05, ^**P < 0.01.