title: Antibiotic susceptibility of Salmonella spp. at different pH values.
abstract: We have examined the effects of acidic pH, in the range of those prevailing within phagosomes and lysosomes, on the growth and the susceptibility to different antibiotics of several strains of Salmonella spp. The minimal inhibitory concentration and the minimal bactericidal concentration of several beta-lactams were increased considerably during culture at pH 5.2. The extent of the increase was a function of: (1) the beta-lactam structure and, more particularly, the hydrophobicity of the side-chain of the molecule; and (2) the bacterial serotype. This phenotypic resistance at acid pH was not due to beta-lactamase activity or to a lower growth rate. In contrast, rifamycin SV was more active at acidic pH than at neutral pH and chloramphenicol, another highly hydrophobic drug, was equally efficacious at both pH values. Membrane lipopolysaccharide mutants, but not porin mutants, cultivated at an acidic pH were inhibited by lower concentrations of the beta-lactams. This suggests that the increased resistance to beta-lactams, and the increased susceptibility to rifamycin SV, at acidic pH, could have resulted from modified permeability of the outer membrane to antibiotics.
authors.affiliation: Université Catholique de Louvain, Unité de Biologie et de Pharmacologie Cellulaire, Bruxelles, Belgium.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Laub
authors.forename: Y J
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Trouet
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D002463:Cell Membrane Permeability; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007769:Lactams; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000235:genetics; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D018272:Porins; D012475:Salmonella / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D007769:Lactams; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D018272:Porins