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Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most common pathogens in hospitals and can be responsible for infections ranging from minor to life-threatening ones, because its strains can acquire very fast resistance to clinically used antibiotics. A heterogeneous methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strain, UCLA 8076 was selected as a model for this study. AgNO₃ or oxacillin were added to the culture medium and then incubated for 18 hours. Culture with no AgNO₃ and oxacillin addition served as control. For living cells, high-resolution imaging remains challenging, but a wealth of novel structural information can be obtained, such as visualization of surface structure in native conditions and monitoring of physiological changes in real time. The AFM technique was used in order to examine the structures and dynamics of bacteria because it is a powerful technique for imaging biological samples under nondestructive conditions and it was concluded that AgNO₃ inhibits the S. aureus development better than oxacillin.

Keywords: AFM, S. aureus, silver ions, oxacillin