Pulmonary surfactant as vehicle for intratracheally instilled tobramycin in mice infected with Klebsiella pneumoniae.
1. The use of pulmonary surfactant has been proposed as a vehicle for antibiotic delivery to the alveolar compartment of the lung. This study investigated survival rates of mice with a respiratory Klebsiella pneumoniae infection treated intratracheally with tobramycin using a natural exogenous surfactant preparation as vehicle. 2. At day 1 after infection, animals were injected intratracheally with 20 microliters of the following solutions: (1) a mixture of surfactant (500 micrograms) and tobramycin (250 micrograms); (2) tobramycin (250 micrograms) alone; (3) surfactant (500 micrograms) alone; and (4) NaHCO3 buffer (control, sham-treatment). A fifth group received no treatment (control). Deaths were registered every 12 h for 8 consecutive days. 3. The results show an increased survival in the group receiving the surfactant-tobramycin mixture compared to the group receiving tobramycin alone (P < 0.05), the group receiving surfactant alone (P < 0.01) and the control groups (P < 0.01). It is concluded that intratracheal instillation of surfactant-tobramycin is superior to tobramycin alone in protecting animals from death due to a respiratory Klebsiella pneumoniae infection.
van't Veen
A
A
Department of Anaesthesiology, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Mouton
J W
JW
Gommers
D
D
Lachmann
B
B
D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D007710:Klebsiella Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D007711:Klebsiella pneumoniae; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D014677:Pharmaceutical Vehicles; D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D014031:Tobramycin / Q000008:administration & dosage*
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D014677:Pharmaceutical Vehicles; D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants; D014031:Tobramycin