Exchange of adsorbed serum proteins during adhesion of Staphylococcus aureus to an abiotic surface and Candida albicans hyphae—An AFM study

Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans are the second and third most commonly isolated microorganisms in hospital-related-infections, that are often multi-species in nature causing high morbidity and mortality. Here, adhesion forces between a S. aureus strain and abiotic (tissue-culture-polystyrene, TCPS) or partly biotic (TCPS with adhering hyphae of C. albicans) surfaces were investigated in presence of fetal-bovine-serum or individual serum proteins and related with staphylococcal adhesion. Atomic-force-microscopy was used to measure adhesion forces between S. aureus and the abiotic and biotic surfaces. Adsorption of individual serum proteins like albumin and apo-transferrin to abiotic TCPS surfaces during 60 min, impeded development of strong adhesion forces as compared to fibronectin, while 60 min adsorption of proteins from fetal-bovine-serum yielded a decrease in adhesion force from −5.7 nN in phosphate-buffered-saline to −0.6 nN. Adsorption of albumin and apo-transferrin also decreased staphylococcal adhesion forces to hyphae as compared with fibronectin. During 60 min exposure to fetal-bovine-serum however, initial (5 min protein adsorption) staphylococcal adhesion forces were low (−1.6 nN), but strong adhesion forces of around −5.5 nN were restored within 60 min. This suggests for the first time that in whole fetal-bovine-serum exchange of non-adhesive proteins by fibronectin occurs on biotic C. albicans hyphal surfaces. No evidence was found for such protein exchange on abiotic TCPS surfaces. Staphylococcal adhesion of abiotic and biotic surfaces varied in line with the adhesion forces and was low on TCPS in presence of fetal-bovine-serum. On partly biotic TCPS, staphylococci aggregated in presence of fetal-bovine-serum around adhering C. albicans hyphae.