Figure 1

Effects of MSC and antibiotic administration on bacterial infection in mouse chronic wound implant infection model. CD-1 mice (n = 5 per group) were implanted with surgical mesh on which biofilms has been established with a luciferase-expressing strain (Xen36) of S. aureus, as described in Methods. On day 2 after implant placement, mice were randomly assigned to the following treatment groups: untreated controls; treatment with antibiotic (amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, continuous treatment in drinking water) only; treatment by i.v. administration of untreated MSC; treatment by i.v. administration of activated MSC; treatment by administration of untreated MSC plus antibiotics; and treatment with activated MSC plus antibiotics. Mice were imaged by IVIS bioluminescence imaging every 2–3 days following mesh implantation to assess the effects of treatment on bacterial burden. In (A), representative IVIS images of wounds in one mouse of each treatment group (n = 5 animals per group) are depicted. Quantitative mean photon intensity from each group of treated animals over time is depicted in (B). Similar results were obtained in 2 additional experiments. In (C), the mean bacterial burden in wounds were determined on day 14 of infection by quantitative counting, as described in Methods, and compared statistically by ANOVA and Tukey multiple means comparison. *Denotes p < 0.05.