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Infect Immun, June 1998, p. 2778-2781, Vol. 66, No. 6
0019-9567/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

The Abilities of a Staphylococcus epidermidis Wild-Type Strain and Its Slime-Negative Mutant To Induce Endocarditis in Rabbits Are Comparable

Francoise Perdreau-Remington,^1,2,* Merle A. Sande,³ Georg Peters,⁴ and Henry F. Chambers²

Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hygiene, University of Cologne, Cologne,¹ and Institut of Medical Microbiology and Hygiene, University of Münster, Münster,⁴ Germany; Medical Service, San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, California²; and Department of Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah³

Received 9 October 1997/Returned for modification 29 December 1997/Accepted 31 March 1998

The abilities of a parent and mutant pair of Staphylococcus epidermidis strains, the slime-producing parent RP62A and its slime-negative mutant, to establish endocarditis in a rabbit model of aortic valve endocarditis and to accumulate and adhere to surfaces in vitro were compared. Vegetation titer and infection rate depended on the presence or absence of a catheter (P = 0.020) and on inoculum size (P < 0.001) but not on the infecting strain. The ability of the parent strain vis-à-vis its mutant to accumulate in vitro on surfaces as demonstrated in a slime test did not correlate with any enhancement in the development of endocarditis in the rabbit model. In vitro initial adherence rates were identical. Both isolates accumulated to the same reduced extent in vitro in the presence of serum, albumin, or gelatin. Adhesion was equally promoted by addition of fibronectin. These data suggest that the in vitro phenomenon of accumulation described as slime production in the absence of serum may not be an important virulence determinant in vivo.

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^* Corresponding author. Mailing address: San Francisco General Hospital, 1001 Potrero Ave., Building 100, Room 301, San Francisco, CA 94110. Phone: (415) 206-8971. Fax: (415) 206-4360. E-mail: francoise{at}epi-center.ucsf.edu.

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Infect Immun, June 1998, p. 2778-2781, Vol. 66, No. 6
0019-9567/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

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