A) Trypan blue staining of control cells and response to CCCP (protonophore) that was used as a positive control. B) S. aureus Cowan I caused slight depolarization of ΔΨm. C) S. aureus KK1089 induced changes in ΔΨm and Trypan blue after 4 hours. D) S. epidermidis ATCC 14990 and E) S. epidermidis KK1087 induced depolarization of ΔΨm F) Depolarization of ΔΨm and Trypan blue staining at 4 hours in ΔΨm PA01 infected BMMSCs The fluorescent 595nm / 535 nm - ratio of JC-10 was used to determine ΔΨm and the 595 nm / 535 nm - ratio of infected BMMSC were compared to uninfected control cells. Results are indicated as mean ± SD of four independent replicates. Magnification power was 200x in all panels. Red circles indicate Trypan blue positive nuclei. Black squares indicate the S .aureus produced aggregates produced by S. aureus.

Figure 3: Depolarization of ΔΨm precedes changes in morphology or plasma membrane integrity of BMMSCs. BMMSC lines 412, 407 and 470 were used to study the early changes in ΔΨm and cell viability as determined by Trypan blue after 4 hours of infection.