Figure 3.

Anti-infective capacity of As-CATH8 and LL-37 in a human skin organoid (A) and a murine abscess (B) model. (A) The ability of crocCATHs to eradicate pre-formed S. aureus biofilms was evaluated in a human skin air–liquid interface organoid model. Biofilms were treated with 200 μg of each peptide or with distilled water as a negative control and bacteria were recovered after 24 h. Results are presented as geometric mean per treatment (horizontal bars) of at least four independent biological replicates (dots). Data were statistically analyzed using the Kruskal–Wallis test followed by Dunn’s post hoc test with the Benjamini–Hochberg correction. (B) The anti-infective activity of cathelicidin peptides was assessed in a murine abscess model against S. aureus and A. baumannii. Mice were inoculated with each bacterium for 1 h and then treated intra abscess with 15 mg/kg of peptides or distilled water as a negative control. The area of dermonecrosis and bacterial load in the abscesses was quantified after three days. Results corresponding to the abscess area are shown as box plots and were statistically analyzed using the Kruskal–Wallis test followed by Dunn’s post hoc test with the Benjamini–Hochberg correction. CFU results are shown as geometric mean per treatment (horizontal bars) and were statistically analyzed using ANOVA followed by the Tukey’s post hoc test. Each mouse is represented by individual data points in the abscess experiments. In all the plots, asterisks represent statistically significant differences (* = p < 0.05, ** = p < 0.01, *** = p < 0.001). Detection limits of the bacterial enumeration assays are shown as dashed lines.