The MBCs of nafcillin, vancomycin, gentamicin and daptomycin (LY146032) were determined for three clinical isolates of coagulase-negative staphylococci grown in suspension and adherent to biomaterials. Strains studied were the slime-producing strain Staphylococcus epidermidis RP-12 (ATCC 35983), S. hyicus SE-360, and the non-slime-producing strain S. hominis SP-2 (ATCC 35982). All three strains were allowed to colonize surgical-grade disks of stainless steel, polymethylmethacrylate, and ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene for 24 h, and the disks were then exposed to various concentrations of antibiotics for 24 h. Surviving adherent bacteria were mechanically dislodged from the disks and quantitated by standard broth dilution plating techniques. Biomaterial-adherent RP-12 and SE-360 yielded approximately 10 times more CFU per disk than non-slime-producing SP-2 did. For all organisms, 10 times more bacteria bound to polymethylmethacrylate disks than to the other biomaterials. In general, bacteria adherent to biomaterials exhibited greater resistance to antibiotics than the same strains in suspension did. Resistance was independent of bacterial slime-producing characteristics and was related to the biomaterial colonized.