Figure 4.

Suppression of sodium l-lactate fermentation of S. epidermidis by 5MF. (A) S. epidermidis (B) (10³ CFU/mL) was cultured in a tube containing phenol red, TSB media and 0.02% sodium l-lactate (SL) in the presence (M+B+SL+5MF) or absence (M+B+SL) of 0.15% 5MF for 12 h. Tubes containing TSB media (M), media plus sodium l-lactate alone (M+SL) or bacteria alone (M+B) were included as controls. (B) The values of OD₅₆₂ all tubes were quantified. Addition of 5MF restored a decrease in the value of OD₅₆₂ caused by sodium l-lactate fermentation of S. epidermidis. The red appearance (arrow) of culture media containing bacteria, sodium l-lactate and 5MF was observed. Data are the mean ± SD of three separate experiments. ** p < 0.01 (two-tailed t-tests).