FIG 6.

Depletion of the Ca²⁺ level interferes with invasion of N. meningitidis strain 8013 into HBMEC. HBMEC were pretreated with different concentrations (10, 25, 50 μM) of the 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor inhibitor 2-APB. Afterwards, cells were infected for 4 h at an MOI of 100, and adhesion (left) and invasion (right) were determined by a gentamicin protection assay. All results show the mean ± SD levels as a percentage of the levels for untreated control cells from three independent experiments performed in duplicate. P values are relative to the values for untreated control cells and were determined by an ordinary one-way ANOVA with Dunnett’s post hoc test. **, P < 0.01, ***, P <0.001.