Efficacy of antimicrobial therapy in experimental rat pneumonia: effects of impaired phagocytosis.
The importance of intact host defense mechanisms for successful antimicrobial therapy was investigated in an animal model. Recovery from lobar pneumococcal pneumonia as a result of penicillin therapy was studied in normal rats and in rats treated with cobra venom factor. This factor was used to selectively suppress the phagocytosis of pneumococci as a result of complement depletion. Although complete recovery from the infection occurred in normal rats after appropriate penicillin therapy, this was not the case in cobra venom factor-treated rats. Within the limitations of this study, evidence is presented for loss of antibiotic activity as a consequence of impaired phagocytosis.
D000818:Animals; D003165:Complement System Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D004546:Elapid Venoms / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D010400:Penicillin G / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010587:Phagocytosis; D011018:Pneumonia, Pneumococcal / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology; D051381:Rats
D004546:Elapid Venoms; D003165:Complement System Proteins; D010400:Penicillin G