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Phentolamine Significantly Enhances Macrolide Antibiotic Antibacterial Activity against MDR Gram-Negative Bacteria.


ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Multidrug-resistant (MDR) Gram-negative bacterial infections have limited treatment options due to the impermeability of the outer membrane. New therapeutic strategies or agents are urgently needed, and combination therapies using existing antibiotics are a potentially effective means to treat these infections. In this study, we examined whether phentolamine can enhance the antibacterial activity of macrolide antibiotics against Gram-negative bacteria and investigated its mechanism of action.

Methods

Synergistic effects between phentolamine and macrolide antibiotics were evaluated by checkerboard and time-kill assays and in vivo using a Galleria mellonella infection model. We utilized a combination of biochemical tests (outer membrane permeability, ATP synthesis, ΔpH gradient measurements, and EtBr accumulation assays) with scanning electron microscopy to clarify the mechanism of phentolamine enhancement of macrolide antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli.

Results

In vitro tests of phentolamine combined with the macrolide antibiotics erythromycin, clarithromycin, and azithromycin indicated a synergistic action against E. coli test strains. The fractional concentration inhibitory indices (FICI) of 0.375 and 0.5 indicated a synergic effect that was consistent with kinetic time-kill assays. This synergy was also seen for Salmonella typhimurium, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Actinobacter baumannii but not Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Similarly, a phentolamine/erythromycin combination displayed significant synergistic effects in vivo in the G. mellonella model. Phentolamine added singly to bacterial cells also resulted in direct outer membrane damage and was able to dissipate and uncouple membrane proton motive force from ATP synthesis that, resulted in enhanced cytoplasmic antibiotic accumulation via reduced efflux pump activity.

Conclusions

Phentolamine potentiates macrolide antibiotic activity via reducing efflux pump activity and direct damage to the outer membrane leaflet of Gram-negative bacteria both in vitro and in vivo.

SUBMITTER: Cui ZH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10135019 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Phentolamine Significantly Enhances Macrolide Antibiotic Antibacterial Activity against MDR Gram-Negative Bacteria.

Cui Ze-Hua ZH   He Hui-Ling HL   Zheng Zi-Jian ZJ   Yuan Zhao-Qi ZQ   Chen Ying Y   Huang Xin-Yi XY   Ren Hao H   Zhou Yu-Feng YF   Zhao Dong-Hao DH   Fang Liang-Xing LX   Yu Yang Y   Liu Ya-Hong YH   Liao Xiao-Ping XP   Sun Jian J  

Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) 20230414 4


<h4>Objectives</h4>Multidrug-resistant (MDR) Gram-negative bacterial infections have limited treatment options due to the impermeability of the outer membrane. New therapeutic strategies or agents are urgently needed, and combination therapies using existing antibiotics are a potentially effective means to treat these infections. In this study, we examined whether phentolamine can enhance the antibacterial activity of macrolide antibiotics against Gram-negative bacteria and investigated its mech  ...[more]

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