5, 2.0, 2.0, 2.5, and 2.5 for strains ATCC 29213, Wood 46,

BAA-1717, 8325-4, and DU 1090, respectively). For cytotoxicity studies and in vivo E7080 ic50 studies, the S. aureus (8325-4 and DU 1090) used for the infection of mice was grown at 37 °C in TSB to an OD600 nm of 0.5. Fifty milliliters of culture aliquots was centrifuged and washed with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) prior to resuspension. For mortality studies, S. aureus 8325-4 and DU 1090 were resuspended in 500 μL PBS (4 × 108 CFU per 30 μL). For histopathology experiments, S. aureus 8325-4 and DU 1090 were resuspended in 1000 μL PBS (2 × 108 CFU per 30 μL). For cytotoxicity studies, 5 mL of culture prepared as described above was resuspended in 10 mL of DMEM medium (Invitrogen, CA). A 100 μL suspension was used per assay well. IAL was

commercially obtained from the National Institute for the Control of Pharmaceutical and Biological Products (Beijing, China). For in vitro studies, IAL stock solutions of various Nutlin-3a mouse concentrations were prepared in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) (Sigma-Aldrich, St Louis, MO). For in vivo assays, IAL was suspended in sterile PBS. The minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of IAL for S. aureus were determined using the broth microdilution method according to CLSI guidelines (CLSI, 2005). Oxacillin was used as a positive control. Hemolytic activity was assessed as described previously (Worlitzsch et al., 2001). Briefly, 100 μL of washed rabbit erythrocytes (5 × 106 mL−1) was added to

96-well V-bottom plates, filled with 100 μL of serially diluted bacterial culture supernatants Thymidylate synthase and incubated for 20 min at 37 °C. One percent saponin (Sigma) was used as a positive control, and PBS served as a negative control. Following centrifugation, the OD450 nm of the supernatant fluid was determined. One unit of hemolytic activity was defined as the amount of test solution able to liberate half of the total hemoglobin from the erythrocytes. After boiling in Laemmli sample buffer, 25 μL of culture supernatant was loaded onto a 12% sodium dodecyl sulfate–polyacrylamide gel (Laemmli, 1970). Protein was then transferred to polyvinylidene fluoride membranes. The membranes were blocked for 2 h using 5% bovine serum albumin in PBS. An antibody to α-toxin was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich and diluted 1 : 8000, and horseradish peroxidase-conjugated anti-rabbit antiserum (Sigma-Aldrich) diluted 1 : 4000 was used as the secondary antibody. The blots were developed using Amersham ECL Western blotting detection reagents (GE Healthcare, Buckinghamshire, UK). hla and RNAIII expression was detected using real-time RT-PCR. Staphylococcus aureus 8325-4 was cultivated in TSB with or without graded subinhibitory concentrations of IAL until the postexponential growth phase (OD600 nm of 2.5). The RNA was isolated as described by Sambanthamoorthy et al. (2006).