Staphylococcus aureus endocarditis: distinct mechanisms of bacterial adhesion to damaged and inflamed heart valves

The pathogenesis of endocarditis is not well understood resulting in unsuccessful attempts at prevention. Clinical observations suggest that Staphylococcus aureus infects either damaged or inflamed heart valves. Using a newly developed endocarditis mouse model, we therefore studied the initial adhesion of S. aureus in both risk states.Using 3D confocal microscopy, we examined the adhesion of fluorescent S. aureus to murine aortic valves. To...