Figure 6
The combination of azithromycin and baicalin is efficacious in vivo against MDRSS in an established murine implant infection model. Azm: azithromycin-treated group; Bac: baicalin-treated group; Azm + Bac: the combination of azithromycin and baicalin-treated group. MDRSS: multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus saprophyticus; BC: blank control group; SS: multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus saprophyticus Liu-2016-Liyang, China-francolin (MDRSS) control group. Implanted subcutaneous tubes were infected with the MDRSS strain. Mice were sacrificed on the 10th day. A Scheme of the experimental protocol for the murine implant infection model. B Histological changes. C Pathological changes were analysed by H&E staining. Asterisks indicate the position of the implant. The location of inflammatory cells is denoted by the arrows. Magnification: ×200. D, E MDRSS titers in ICR mouse implants and tissue around the implant. IL-1β (F), TNF-α (G), CXCL2 (H), and CCL2 (I) cytokine expression profiles for the tissue surrounding the implants infected with MDRSS were determined using ELISA kits. White blood cells (J), monocytes (K), lymphocytes (L), and neutrophils (M) in the blood were detected. Data are presented as the means ± SDs. In the same index, the graph bars in a-c with different letters on top represent statistically significant results (p < 0.05), whereas the bars labelled with the same letter correspond to results with no statistically significant differences.