Sheep mastitis Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilm effects on cell adhesion and inflammatory changes

Only 7.3% isolates produced slime on CRA and 8% produced biofilm according to TCP. The relation between slime production in CRA and biofilm production analyzed by TCP was highly significant (P < 0.001). The differences between biofilm production and different recorded inflammatory situations were non ­ significant (P ≥ 0.05). Adherence to mammary epithelium cells ranged from 0.05% to 1.23%. Biofilm production was not related to cell adhesion. Moreover, S. epidermidis isolates that induced different degrees of inflammation did not express differences in their ability to adhere to mammary epithelium. The present study suggests that biofilm production by sheep mastitis S. epidermidis is unlikely to affect either cell adhesion or mammary gland inflammatory response.