Departments of 1 Medicine and 2 Medical Technology, National Cheng Kung University Medical College; Departments of 3 Medicine and 4 Medical Research, Chi Mei Medical Center; 5 Department of Internal Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan
Received 19 August 2003; returned 13 October 2003; revised 17 November 2003; accepted 18 November 2003
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Abstract |
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Methods: The antimicrobial susceptibility of Ab-153 to various drugs was studied by the agar dilution method and Etest strips. The antibacterial activity of meropenem and sulbactam were investigated by a timekill study in vitro and further examined for therapeutic efficacy in vivo in a murine model.
Results: In the timekill study, at a concentration of 0.5 x MIC (4 mg/L) of meropenem, 1 x MIC (8 mg/L) of sulbactam and both in combination, only the combination demonstrated bactericidal effects and there was at least a 5 log10 reduction in bacterial colony counts after 48 h, compared with either drug alone. BALB/c mice infected with 2.12.6 x 107 cfu of Ab-153 were treated with 20 mg/kg meropenem every 8 h, 40 mg/kg sulbactam every 8 h or both in combination. The survival rate of mice in the combination group was significantly higher than that in the meropenem-treated or sulbactam-treated group (87% versus 35%, P = 0.0004; 87% versus 30%, P = 0.0002).
Conclusions: Meropenem in conjunction with sulbactam can exhibit more potent antimicrobial activity against Ab-153 than meropenem or sulbactam alone.
Keywords: synergy, combination therapy, timekill curves
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Introduction |
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We studied the in vitro and in vivo antibacterial activity of meropenem combined with sulbactam against a multidrug-resistant isolate of the endemic clone in the Tainan area of southern Taiwan.
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Materials and methods |
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Nosocomial infections caused by A. baumannii susceptible or intermittently resistant to ampicillinsulbactam or carbapenems only, have been recognized increasingly since 2001 in the Tainan area of Taiwan. Clinical isolates with this resistant phenotype are genetically related, as revealed by PFGE (data not shown). Such a bacteraemic isolate, Ab-153, was selected and stored at 70°C in Protect Bacterial Preservers (Technical Service Consultants Limited, Heywood, Lancashire, England) before being cultured on LuriaBertani agar (Difco Laboratories, Detroit, MI, USA).
MICs determined by Etest and the agar dilution method
MIC values of meropenem and sulbactam were measured by the agar dilution method, as described previously by the NCCLS.8 Meropenem powder (Sumitomo Pharmaceutics Co., Ltd, Osaka, Japan) was dissolved in pH 7.2, 0.01 M phosphate buffer, and sulbactam (USP Reference Standards, Rockville, MD, USA) in sterile water and diluted to the required concentration. Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853 was used in each run as the control. The MIC values of other antibiotics, including piperacillin, piperacillintazobactam, cefotaxime, ceftazidime, cefepime, aztreonam, amikacin, gentamicin and ciprofloxacin, were determined by Etest strips (AB Biodisk, Solna, Sweden).
Inhibitory activities of meropenem, sulbactam and both in timekill studies
Bacteria were diluted to 4 x 105 cfu/mL in fresh MuellerHinton broth. The drug concentrations of meropenem and sulbactam used in the following timekill studies were adjusted to the 1 x MIC or 0.5 x MIC of each antimicrobial agent as indicated. Each flask was incubated at 37°C. Bacterial counts were examined at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24, 30, 36 and 48 h, and measured by enumerating the colony number from 10-fold serially diluted specimens of 100 µL aliquots plated on nutrient agar (Difco Laboratories). The lower limit of detection was 100 cfu/mL. The experiments were carried out in duplicate.
In vivo mice study
Female inbred BALB/c mice (Animal Center, National Science Council, Taipei, Taiwan) weighing on average 20 g (56 weeks old) were used throughout the study. A bacterial suspension in a volume of 0.1 mL was delivered intraperitoneally into each mouse. The marketed parenteral preparations of meropenem and sulbactam were used to treat A. baumannii infection. The dosage of meropenem for mice is 20 mg/kg every 8 h, as described previously.9 The daily dose of sulbactam is, as previously described, 120 mg/kg, divided into three doses.7 The solutions of antimicrobial agents, prepared the morning the experiment was conducted, were diluted in sterile 0.85% saline and delivered intraperitoneally in a volume of 0.1 mL in sterile disposable plastic syringes. Antimicrobial agents were given 2 h after the animal was infected, and six doses were administrated subsequently overall. The number of surviving mice was recorded at 8 h intervals for 48 h, and at 120 h.
There were four experimental groups: the control group (no antimicrobial agent was given); meropenem; sulbactam; and combined meropenemsulbactam. There were five to ten mice in each group and the experiments (conducted in compliance with the relevant national guidelines of the Republic of China and approved by the Chi Mei Foundation Medical Center) were performed three times for confirmation of results.
Statistical methods
The log-rank test was applied to compare the effect between different treatments. A P value of £0.05 was considered statistically significant. Data analyses were performed with SPSS for Windows 10.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA).
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Results |
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Ab-153 was resistant to: piperacillin, piperacillintazobactam, cefotaxime, ceftazidime, cefepime, amikacin or gentamicin (MIC >256 mg/L); ciprofloxacin (>32 mg/L); and aztreonam (48 mg/L). The MICs of meropenem and sulbactam determined by the agar dilution method using a standard inoculum of 1 x 104 cfu, for Ab-153, were 8 and 8 mg/L, respectively.
Timekill studies
When Ab-153 at an initial inoculum of 4 x 105 cfu/mL was incubated with meropenem at a concentration of 0.5 x MIC (4 mg/L), the bacterial growth was inhibited temporarily for 6 h, but then Ab-153 re-grew (Figure 1). A sulbactam concentration of 0.5 x MIC (4 mg/L) was not inhibitory, although at a concentration of 1 x MIC (8 mg/L) there was transient inhibitory activity lasting for <4 h. With a combination of meropenem and sulbactam, both at a concentration of 0.5 x MIC, inhibitory activity lasted for <24 h. In contrast, with meropenem at a concentration of 0.5 x MIC, combined with sulbactam at a concentration of 1 x MIC, there was sustained synergistic inhibitory activity lasting for more than 48 h, defined as a reduction in viable bacterial colonies by at least two orders of magnitude compared with either drug alone.
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With an inoculum of 2.4 x 106 cfu of Ab-153 via intraperitoneal administration, all four mice survived for at least 48 h. With a higher inoculum, 2.4 x 107 cfu, by 24 h all four mice had died.
Three rounds of mice experiments were performed and the initial inoculum was 2.1 x 107, 2.3 x 107 and 2.6 x 107 cfu, respectively (Table 1). Without antimicrobial therapy, only two (9%) of 22 mice survived to 5 days after intraperitoneal infection with Ab-153. Of mice treated with meropenem (20 mg/kg every 8 h) or sulbactam (40 mg/kg every 8 h), the survival rate was significantly higher than that of mice without treatment (8/23, 35% versus 9%, P = 0.05; 7/23, 30% versus 9%, P = 0.04). Moreover, if infected mice were treated with meropenem in combination with sulbactam, more mice survived than those treated with meropenem (20/23, 87% versus 35%, P = 0.0004) or sulbactam (87% versus 30%, P = 0.0002) alone.
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Discussion |
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In the timekill study, the combination of meropenem (0.5 ¥ MIC) and sulbactam (1 ¥ MIC) resulted in a sustained synergistic bactericidal effect lasting for at least 48 h. In the murine experiment, the survival rate of infected mice treated with sulbactam (30%) confirmed the clinical utilization of sulbactam monotherapy in treating A. baumannii infections.12 However, we found that the meropenemsulbactam combination regimen significantly improved the survival rate of mice infected with Ab-153, compared with that in animals treated with either drug alone.
Meropenem plus sulbactam was effective against our multi-resistant isolate of A. baumannii both in vitro and in vivo, and this combination warrants further clinical studies to delineate its clinical significance.
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Acknowledgements |
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Footnotes |
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References |
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