Fig. 4

Reconstructed 3D microCT images of bone samples (sham and infected) and cortical bone destruction analysis. The sham and infected bone samples were harvested after each infection period (on days 4, 8, and 15). The 3D microCT images of sham and infected bone samples (a, c, and e) and cortical bone destruction analysis of sham and infected bones samples (b, d, and f). Reconstructed 3D images showed significant bone damage and/or loss by USA300 LAC and complementation strains, which was also revealed by cortical bone destruction analysis. Bone destruction analysis was subjected to one-way ANOVA followed by a post-hoc Tukey test. Error bars indicate standard errors of the means. A P-value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant (**p-value < 0.01, and ***p-value < 0.001)