Figure 2.

Elevated persistence of Staphylococcusaureus occurs in osteocytes during co-cultivation with osteoblasts. (A) Intracellular bacteria (log CFU/106 cells) recovered from infected osteoblasts and osteocytes with S. aureus LS1 strain at different time points and both possible orientations in transwell experiments (co-cultivation); (B) SCV (log SCVs/106 cells) formation of S. aureus LS1 strain for both possible orientations. Statistical analysis was performed using two-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test; **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, and ****p < 0.0001. The bars and whiskers represent the means ±SD of different independent experiments; n = 3.