Fig. 4

B. subtilis CFS suppresses S. aureus burden in a mouse model of implant-associated osteomyelitis. a Schematic diagram showing establishment of implant-associated S. aureus osteomyelitis in mice and treatments. After challenged with S. aureus, mice were treated daily with B. subtilis CFS or the PBS control. Colony forming unit (CFU) of S. aureus was enumerated from the implanted-tibia on days 3 and 14. b Survival rate of osteomyelitis mice treated with PBS (control) and B. subtilis CFS. Data represent percentage of surviving mice from at least three independent experiments. N = 12/groups, *P < 0.05, Gehan-Breslow-Wilcoxon test. c Infection rate in surviving osteomyelitis mice treated with PBS (control) and B. subtilis CFS on days 3 and 14 post-infection. N = 12/group, *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, Chi-square test. d, e Quantification of S. aureus loading recovered from the implanted-tibia (d) and the needle (e) on days 3 and 14 post-infection. N = 14/group, *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, Mann-Whitney U test