title: Amlodipine: a cardiovascular drug with powerful antimicrobial property.
abstract: Ten cardiovascular drugs were procured in pure form from their manufacturers in India and screened for antimicrobial property against fifteen known bacteria belonging to both gram-positive and gram-negative types. These bacteria were inhibited by the common antibiotics at 1-5 mg ml(-1) level through our earlier studies. Since most of the bacteria were moderate to highly responsive to amlodipine, this compound was further tested in vitro against 504 bacteria comprising 4 genera of gram-positive and 15 genera of gram-negative bacteria. Most of these were inhibited by the drug at 50-200 microg ml(-1) level and few strains were sensitive even at lower concentrations (10 microg ml(-1)). The bacteria could be arranged in the decreasing order of sensitivity towards amlodipine in the following manner: Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio cholerae, Vibrio parahemolyticus, Shigella spp., Salmonella spp., Bacillus spp., whereas Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp. and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were found to be resistant to the lower concentrations of the drug. Amlodipine was found to be bactericidal in nature when its mode of action was studied against S. aureus 6571, V. cholerae 14035 and Sh boydii 8 NCTC 254/66. The antibacterial activity of amlodipine could also be confirmed in vivo. When it was given to Swiss strain of white mice at different dosages (30 and 60 microg/mouse), it could significantly protect the animals challenged with 50 MLD of Salmonella typhimurium NCTC 74. According to Chi square test the in vivo data were highly significant (p<0.001).
authors.affiliation: Division of Microbiology, Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Jadavpur University, Calcutta 700 032, India.
authors.forename: K Asok
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Kumkum
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ganguly
authors.forename: Kaushiki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mazumdar
authors.forename: N K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Dutta
authors.forename: Sujata G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Dastidar
authors.forename: A N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Chakrabarty
mesh_terms: D017311:Amlodipine / Q000097:blood / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000097:blood / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002317:Cardiovascular Agents / Q000097:blood / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects*; D006094:Gram-Positive Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D002317:Cardiovascular Agents; D017311:Amlodipine