Fig. 7: S. aureus clumps inhibit the immunoregulatory effects of macrophages.

A Representative morphology of GFP-labeled S. aureus strains cultured in diverse environments. B S. aureus strains cultured in different environments were collected and then co-cultured with macrophages. The mRNA expression level and concentrations of CXCL2, CCL3, IL-6, and TNF-α were detected. Macrophages without any treatment were used as the control (n = 3 per group). * p ≤ 0.05, ** p ≤ 0.01, *** p ≤ 0.001. Data are presented as means ± SD.