Screening antibiotics using an Hoechst 33342 dye-accumulation assay to detect efflux activity in Acinetobacter baumannii clinical isolates
Article Category: Brief communication
Published Online: Mar 21, 2018
Page range: 371 - 378
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/abm-2018-0010
Keywords
© 2017 In-Sun Choi, Choon-Mee Kim, Sook-Jin Jang
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.
Background
Understanding the contribution of efflux pumps to the resistance of antibiotics is useful when considering strategies for antimicrobial therapy.
Objectives
To assess the role of efflux activity on the resistance of antibiotics commonly used in hospitals.
Methods
We analyzed the efflux activity of 120 clinical isolates of
Results
The evaluation suggests that efflux activity contributed to resistance to the following 11 antibiotics: cefepime, cefotaxime, ceftazidime, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, imipenem, meropenem, piperacillin, piperacillin/tazobactam, ticarcillin/ clavulanic acid, and tigecycline. However, ampicillin/sulbactam, minocycline, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole did not meet the criteria, suggesting resistance may not be mediated by efflux activity. A significant difference in efflux activity was observed between bacteria belonging to the multidrug-resistant
Conclusions
Efflux activity may contribute to multidrug resistance and particularly resistance to numerous antibiotics used in hospitals. These antibiotics would be good candidates for combination therapeutic regimens consisting of an antibiotic and an efflux pump inhibitor as an adjuvant to combat drug efflux.