FIG 3.

Inhibition of bacterial cell lysis by PAS reduces bacterial eDNA release and biofilm development. (A) eDNA released into the medium of S. mutans cultures with or without PAS was detected by PCR amplification using bacterial 16S rRNA primers and resolution of products on 1% agarose gels. M, Marker. (B) The growth curves of S. mutans cultured with or without PAS were measured by determining the optical density at 550 nm. (C) S. mutans cultures were treated with PAS at the time of inoculation (t = 0) and 2, 4, 6, 8, and 24 h postinoculation. All biofilms were grown at 37°C for a total of 24 h. Twenty-four-hour biofilms were allowed to grow for 3 h after the addition of PAS to allow full penetration and activity of the compound on the biofilm. The biofilms were stained with 0.1% crystal violet and were quantified by measuring the absorbance at 550 nm. Data are means ± standard deviations from triplicate experiments. Asterisks indicate significance (***, P ≤ 0.001; **, P ≤ 0.005) by one-way ANOVA. These experiments were repeated three times, and results of a representative experiment are shown.