Transmigration of GBS across hBMECs.

(A) Confluent hBMECs monolayers grown in the upper chamber of Transwell inserts were infected for a 2 h period with 10⁶ GBS cells preincubated without (untreated GBS) or with (PLG-treated GBS) plasminogen plus tPA. The total lower chamber medium was collected at the indicated time points and total GBS CFU were enumerated. (B) The integrity of the HBMEC monolayers infected with 10⁶ GBS CFU previously incubated with plasminogen plus tPA (PLG-treated GBS), untreated (untreated GBS) or pre-treated with εACA prior to plasminogen plus tPA incubation (εACA-treated GBS) was monitored by measuring the change in TEER. Data are the mean values + SEM of at least two experiments. Statistical differences (P values) are indicated.