Effects of antibiotics on morphologic characteristics and migration of canine corneal epithelial cells in tissue culture.
OBJECTIVE
To determine effects of commonly used ophthalmic antibiotics on cellular morphologic characteristics and migration of canine corneal epithelium in cell culture.


METHODS
Corneal epithelial cells harvested from corneas of 12 euthanatized dogs and propagated in cell culture.


METHODS
Cells were treated with various antibiotics after a defect was created in the monolayer. Cellular morphologic characteristics and closure of the defect were compared between antibiotic-treated and control cells.


RESULTS
Cells treated with ciprofloxacin and cefazolin had the greatest degree of rounding, shrinkage, and detachment from plates. Cells treated with neomycin-polymyxin B-gramicidin and gentamicin sulfate had rounding and shrinkage but with less detachment. Cells treated with tobramycin and chloramphenicol grew similarly to control cells. On the basis of comparisons of defect circumference between control cells and cells exposed to antibiotics, tobramycin affected cellular migration the least.


CONCLUSIONS
Effects of ciprofloxacin and cefazolin on morphologic characteristics of canine corneal epithelial cells in vitro should be taken into consideration before using these antibiotics for first-line of treatment for noninfected ulcers. Of the antibiotics tested that have a primarily gram-negative spectrum of coverage, gentamicin inhibited corneal epithelial cell migration and had greater cytopathologic effects than tobramycin did. For antibiotics with a gram-positive coverage, chloramphenicol had no cytopathologic effects on cells in comparison to cefazolin, which caused most of the cells to shrink and detach from the plate. Polymyxin B-neomycin-gramicidin was midrange in its effects on cellular morphologic characteristics and migration.
Hendrix
D V
DV
Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tennessee, Knoxville 37901, USA.
Ward
D A
DA
Barnhill
M A
MA
D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D002437:Cefazolin / Q000494:pharmacology; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000187:drug effects*; D002511:Cephalosporins / Q000494:pharmacology; D002701:Chloramphenicol / Q000494:pharmacology; D002939:Ciprofloxacin / Q000494:pharmacology; D003315:Cornea / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects*; D046508:Culture Techniques; D004285:Dogs / Q000502:physiology*; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects; D005839:Gentamicins / Q000494:pharmacology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014031:Tobramycin / Q000494:pharmacology
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D002511:Cephalosporins; D005839:Gentamicins; D002939:Ciprofloxacin; D002701:Chloramphenicol; D002437:Cefazolin; D014031:Tobramycin