Brodimoprim: effects of subminimal inhibitory concentrations on virulence traits of respiratory and urinary tract pathogens, and on plasmid transfer and stability

In vitro activity of ceftibuten at sub-inhibitory concentrations in comparison with other antibiotics against respiratory and urinary tract pathogens

Some new features of the in vitro activity of ceftibuten, an oral third generation cephalosporin, have been studied in reference to respiratory and urinary tract pathogens included in its antibacterial spectrum. At 0.25XMIC (minimum inhibitory concentration) and 0.5XMIC levels, ceftibuten was able to affect the biofilm production in 2/3 of both Escherichia coli and Proteus mirabilis strains, and reduced the number of strains capable of adhering to epithelial cells by about 35% in comparison to the control. Surface hydrophobicity was also influenced by ceftibuten and the other drugs at 0.25-0.5XMIC. In general, no marked variation in the virulence traits of the pathogens studied were found by exposing bacteria to sub-MICs of ceftibuten. Plasmid loss (from 1.8 to 37.2%), and Flac transfer inhibition (about 30-50% reduction in the number of recombinants) were detected under the experimental conditions used. This study confirms the excellent antibacterial properties of ceftibuten by adding new information about the effects of this antibiotic against pathogens often involved in respiratory and urinary tract infections that may be treated with this compound, supporting the appropriate use of this cephalosporin.

Antibiotic persistence: the role of spontaneous DNA repair response

Persisters are a small proportion of a bacterial population that exists in a physiological state permitting survival despite the lethal activity of antibiotics. To explain this phenomenon, it has been suggested that persisters are bacteria repairing spontaneous errors of DNA synthesis. To verify this assumption, Escherichia coli AB1157 and its lexA3 derivative were exposed to a dose 6x MIC of various antibiotics representative of different molecular mechanisms of action (ampicillin, ceftriaxone, meropenem, amikacin, ciprofloxacin). Bacterial cell counts, after 24 hr of exposure to the antimicrobials, revealed a reduction of about 90% of viable organisms in the lexA3 strains in comparison to the lexA+. In several cases, the number of colony-forming units decreased below the limit of assay. This behavior was noted with all antibiotics used, alone or in combination (amikacin plus ceftriaxone and amikacin plus ciprofloxacin). The same experiments were repeated using E. coli AB1157 cultured in the presence of mitomycin C (0.25x MIC), and the number of survivors exceeded by about 90% the values found in the nonexposed control. In contrast, in the sulA background, mitomycin C reacted synergically with all the antibiotics tested causing a strong reduction of the survivors in comparison with the control. The addition of chloramphenicol (0.125x MIC), on the contrary, caused a reduction of the number of survivors of about 90%. These findings indicate that, when DNA repair is active (a mechanism known to block cell division), the number of survivors is greater than that observed with lexA3. Thus, in addition to other possible explanations, persisters might be a fraction of bacteria that during antibiotic treatment are not growing because they are repairing spontaneous errors of DNA synthesis.