Effect of some antibiotics on pigmentation in Serratia marcescens.
Serratia marcescens is characterized by its ability to produce a red pigment called prodigiosin. It is well known that there are some substances affecting pigmentation in bacteria. Cefoxitin, erythromycin, tobramycin, co-trimoxazole, imipenem and nitrofurantoin were found to have an inhibitory effect on pigmentation in a S. marcescens strain isolated from urine. It was also shown that the LD50 dose determined by inoculation of eight-week-old BALB/c mice with serial dilutions of overnight cultures of pigmented and nonpigmented variants was lower (LD50 = 300 x 10(3.94)) in the nonpigmented variant than in the pigmented one (LD50 = 300 x 10(5.58)). In addition, the Sereny test showed that in contrast to the pigmented variant, the nonpigmented variant caused keratitis in guinea pig eye.
Anğ-Küçüker
M
M
Department of Microbiology, Istanbul Medical Faculty, Capa.
Büyükbaba-Boral
O
O
Tolun
V
V
Törümküney
D
D
Susever
S
S
Anğ
O
O
D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007634:Keratitis / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D007928:Lethal Dose 50; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D010858:Pigmentation / Q000187:drug effects; D011353:Prodigiosin / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D016868:Serratia Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D012706:Serratia marcescens / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D014774:Virulence
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D011353:Prodigiosin