Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Herrera-Insua, I.
Right arrow Articles by Rakita, R. M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Herrera-Insua, I.
Right arrow Articles by Rakita, R. M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, Vol 39, 109-113, Copyright © 1997 by The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy

ORIGINAL ARTICLES

The effect of antibiotic exposure on adherence to neutrophils of Enterococcus faecium resistant to phagocytosis

I Herrera-Insua, K Jacques-Palaz, BE Murray and RM Rakita
Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Texas Medical School at Houston 77030, USA.

Many clinical isolates of Enterococcus faecium are resistant to neutrophil-mediated phagocytosis and killing. As antibiotic exposure may alter bacterial surface properties and promote phagocytosis, we used a fluorescence microscopy assay to examine the effect of antibiotic pretreatment on the resistance to phagocytosis of six strains of E. faecium. Using two antimicrobial agents with good in- vitro activity against E. faecium, namely quinupristin/ dalfopristin and sparfloxacin, we found that exposure to quinupristin/dalfopristin at concentrations both below and above the MIC promoted bacterial adherence to neutrophils (PMNs) for all of three strains of vancomycin- susceptible E. faecium, while sparfloxacin was similarly effective in two of these three strains. In contrast, neither antibiotic was effective in promoting PMN adherence for three vancomycin-resistant strains of E. faecium. The variability amongst strains in response to antibiotic exposure suggests that either the mechanisms of resistance to phagocytosis, or its regulation, may be different amongst different strains of E. faecium.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.