In vitro activity and in vivo efficacy of clavulanic acid against Acinetobacter baumannii.
Clavulanic acid (CLA) exhibits low MICs against some Acinetobacter baumannii strains. The present study evaluates the efficacy of CLA in a murine model of A. baumannii pneumonia. For this purpose, two clinical strains, Ab11 and Ab51, were used; CLA MICs for these strains were 2 and 4 mg/liter, respectively, and the imipenem (IPM) MIC was 0.5 mg/liter for both. A pneumonia model in C57BL/6 mice was used. The CLA dosage (13 mg/kg of body weight given intraperitoneally) was chosen to reach a maximum concentration of the drug in serum similar to that in humans and a time during which the serum CLA concentration remained above the MIC equivalent to 40% of the interval between doses. Six groups (n = 15) were inoculated with Ab11 or Ab51 and were allocated to IPM or CLA therapy or to the untreated control group. In time-kill experiments, CLA was bactericidal only against Ab11 whereas IPM was bactericidal against both strains. CLA and IPM both decreased bacterial concentrations in lungs, 1.78 and 2.47 log10 CFU/g (P < or = 0.001), respectively, in the experiments with Ab11 and 2.42 and 2.28 log10 CFU/g (P < or = 0.001), respectively, with Ab51. IPM significantly increased the sterility of blood cultures over that for the controls with both strains (P < or = 0.005); CLA had the same effect with Ab51 (P < 0.005) but not with Ab11 (P = 0.07). For the first time, we suggest that CLA may be used for the treatment of experimental severe A. baumannii infections.
Beceiro
Alejandro
A
Servicio de Microbiología-Unidad de Investigación, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario Juan Canalejo, 15006 La Coruña, Spain.
López-Rojas
Rafael
R
Domínguez-Herrera
Juan
J
Docobo-Pérez
Fernando
F
Bou
Germán
G
Pachón
Jerónimo
J
D000151:Acinetobacter Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology; D040981:Acinetobacter baumannii / Q000187:drug effects*; D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D019818:Clavulanic Acid / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D019818:Clavulanic Acid