Venous shear stress enhances platelet mediated staphylococcal adhesion to artificial and damaged biological surfaces.

We investigated the role of blood components in the adhesion of staphylococci to biological and artificial surfaces under well-defined flow conditions by using the Cone and Plate(let) Analyzer. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay-like binding assay with biotinylated bacteria determined the extent of bacterial adhesion to subendothelial extracellular matrix (ECM), polystyrene (PS) and adult bovine aortic endothelial (ABAE) cell monolayer. The presence of adsorbed plasma proteins on PS and ECM did not increase and in some cases reduced staphylococcal adhesion under flow conditions (200s(-1)).

Isolation and characterisation of a 17-kDa staphylococcal heparin-binding protein with broad specificity.

A previous study reported the ability of staphylococci to bind heparin and heparin-dependent host growth factors. The present study isolated and identified heparin- and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF)-binding surface components of S. epidermidis strain RP12 and S.