Fig 6. L. plantarum LTA interferes with sucrose decomposition and dextran-FITC binding to S. mutans.

S. mutans (1 × 10⁸ CFU/ml) was grown in BHI medium at 37°C for 24 h in the presence or absence of (A) Lp.LTA at the indicated concentrations and (B) Lp.LTA or Deala-Lp.LTA at 30 μg/ml. S. mutans exopolysaccharide was determined by flow cytometry using dextran-FITC. Percentage of exopolysaccharide-positive S. mutans is in histograms. One of the three similar results is shown. (C) S. mutans (1 × 10⁸ CFU/ml) was grown in BHI medium supplemented with 0.5% sucrose at 37°C for 24 h in the presence or absence of Lp.LTA (10, 30, or 50 μg/ml). The culture supernatants were subjected to HPLC-RID for sucrose detection. Data are mean values ± S.D. of triplicate samples. Asterisks indicate significant difference at P < 0.05 compared with non-treatment control group.