Figure 4.

Membrane depolarization (diSC₃(5)) (A,D), permeabilization (PI) (B,E) and killing (C,F) of S. epidermidis (A–C) and S. aureus (D–F) caused by melittin and gramicidin D. Experiments were performed with 10⁸ CFU/mL of the indicated strains in PBS-glc containing 400 nM diSC₃(5) (λ_ex = 652 nm, λ_em = 672 nm) and 5 µg/mL PI (λ_ex = 535 nm, λ_em = 617 nm) at 37 °C. CFU counts were determined at 30 min incubation. The kinetics of diSC₃(5) and PI are shown in separate graphs and error bars were omitted for clarity. (*) peptide addition.