The effects of erythromycin on human peripheral neutrophil apoptosis.
Erythromycin is reported to have an anti-inflammatory action, which may account for its clinical effectiveness in treating chronic inflammatory diseases of the respiratory tract such as diffuse panbronchiolitis (DPB) and chronic sinusitis. The evaluate the anti-inflammatory action of erythromycin, we examined apoptosis of isolated neutrophils incubated with and without erythromycin. As a result, erythromycin augmented neutrophil apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner, with a maximal effect at 10 micrograms/ml and above. The percentage of neutrophil apoptosis at 12 h was 79.2 +/- 2.3% in medium with 10 micrograms/ml of erythromycin compared with 51.2 +/- 4.1% in control medium (p < 0.005). In a manner similar to that of erythromycin, another macrolide antibiotic, roxithromycin, also increased neutrophil apoptosis. However, there was no effect on apoptosis induced by treatment with josamycin (macrolide antibiotic), ampicillin (beta-lactam.) and cefazolin (cephalosporin antibiotic), or gentamycin (aminoglycoside). These findings suggest that erythromycin shortens neutrophil survival by accelerating neutrophil apoptosis.
Inamura
K
K
Department of Otolaryngology, Yamagata University, School of Medicine, Japan.
Ohta
N
N
Fukase
S
S
Kasajima
N
N
Aoyagi
M
M
D000667:Ampicillin / Q000494:pharmacology; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D002437:Cefazolin / Q000494:pharmacology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002511:Cephalosporins / Q000494:pharmacology; D004917:Erythromycin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005839:Gentamicins / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D015570:Josamycin / Q000494:pharmacology; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000187:drug effects*; D010406:Penicillins / Q000494:pharmacology; D015575:Roxithromycin / Q000494:pharmacology
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D002511:Cephalosporins; D005839:Gentamicins; D010406:Penicillins; D015575:Roxithromycin; D004917:Erythromycin; D000667:Ampicillin; D015570:Josamycin; D002437:Cefazolin