title: Action of antituberculous and beta-lactam drugs (including imipenem) against extra- and intra-cellularly growing Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare.
abstract: The extracellular and intracellular activities of 4 antituberculous drugs (rifampicin, streptomycin, ansamycin and kanamycin) and 7 beta-lactam antibiotics (penicillin G, amoxycillin, carbenicillin, ticarcillin, ampicillin, cloxacillin and imipenem) were determined against the bacteria of the Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC). The extracellular activities were determined against 14 strains by the broth-dilution method, whereas the intracellular activities were determined against type strain ATCC 15769 multiplying actively inside murine J-774 macrophages. Six of the beta-lactam drugs (except the beta-lactamase-stable drug imipenem) were also used in association with the beta-lactamase inhibitor clavulanic acid. Our results showed that the screening of MAC strains against beta-lactams may be useful, and that correlation of usual in vitro minimal inhibitory concentrations with the intracellular activities of the same drugs against pathogenic mycobacteria, whenever feasible, would be the method of choice to designate the therapeutic protocols against these intracellular pathogens.
authors.affiliation: Unité de la Tuberculose et des Mycobactéries, Institut Pasteur, Paris.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rastogi
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Potar
authors.forename: H L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: David
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000995:Antitubercular Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003470:Culture Media; D015378:Imipenem; D008264:Macrophages / Q000382:microbiology*; D051379:Mice; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D009162:Mycobacterium avium / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development; D013845:Thienamycins / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D000995:Antitubercular Agents; D003470:Culture Media; D013845:Thienamycins; D015378:Imipenem