Cells released from Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilms interact differently from biofilm or planktonic cells with murine host immune system.. Mus musculus

S. epidermidis ability to form biofilms on indwelling medical devices and its association with the emergence of chronic infections is its main virulence factor. Nevertheless, it has been shown that the cells released from these biofilms are associated with the advent of serious acute infections with bacteraemia as one of the major clinical manifestations. Despite their clinical relevance, very little is known about the impact of biofilm-released cells in pathogenesis. Hence, herein, we characterized the murine immune response to the presence of cells released from S. epidermidis biofilms analysing spleen cells transcriptome by microarrays. These findings may help to explain the recurrent inflammatory symptoms presented by patients with colonization of indwelling medical devices. Overall design: In order to assess the role of the cells released from S. epidermidis biofilms in pathogenesis, an in vivo murine model of hematogenously disseminated infection was used. Planktonic and biofilm cells were used for comparative purposes. In brief, 1 × 108 planktonic, biofilm and biofilm-released cells were intravenously injected via lateral tail vein of 8-12 weeks old BALB/c females and 2 hours post infection, spleens were collected and prepared for microarrays analysis.