Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Enteric Gram Negative Facultative Anaerobe Bacilli in Aerobic versus Anaerobic Conditions

PLoS One. 2016 May 18;11(5):e0155599. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0155599. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

Antimicrobial treatments result in the host's enteric bacteria being exposed to the antimicrobials. Pharmacodynamic models can describe how this exposure affects the enteric bacteria and their antimicrobial resistance. The models utilize measurements of bacterial antimicrobial susceptibility traditionally obtained in vitro in aerobic conditions. However, in vivo enteric bacteria are exposed to antimicrobials in anaerobic conditions of the lower intestine. Some of enteric bacteria of food animals are potential foodborne pathogens, e.g., Gram-negative bacilli Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica. These are facultative anaerobes; their physiology and growth rates change in anaerobic conditions. We hypothesized that their antimicrobial susceptibility also changes, and evaluated differences in the susceptibility in aerobic vs. anaerobic conditions of generic E. coli and Salmonella enterica of diverse serovars isolated from cattle feces. Susceptibility of an isolate was evaluated as its minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) measured by E-Test® following 24 hours of adaptation to the conditions on Mueller-Hinton agar, and on a more complex tryptic soy agar with 5% sheep blood (BAP) media. We considered all major antimicrobial drug classes used in the U.S. to treat cattle: β-lactams (specifically, ampicillin and ceftriaxone E-Test®), aminoglycosides (gentamicin and kanamycin), fluoroquinolones (enrofloxacin), classical macrolides (erythromycin), azalides (azithromycin), sulfanomides (sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim), and tetracyclines (tetracycline). Statistical analyses were conducted for the isolates (n≥30) interpreted as susceptible to the antimicrobials based on the clinical breakpoint interpretation for human infection. Bacterial susceptibility to every antimicrobial tested was statistically significantly different in anaerobic vs. aerobic conditions on both media, except for no difference in susceptibility to ceftriaxone on BAP agar. A satellite experiment suggested that during first days in anaerobic conditions the susceptibility changes with time. The results demonstrate that assessing effects of antimicrobial treatments on resistance in the host's enteric bacteria that are Gram negative facultative Anaerobe Bacilli requires data on the bacterial antimicrobial susceptibility in the conditions resembling those in the intestine.

MeSH terms

  • Adaptation, Biological
  • Aerobiosis
  • Anaerobiosis
  • Anti-Infective Agents / pharmacology*
  • Enterobacteriaceae / drug effects*
  • Enterobacteriaceae / metabolism*
  • Escherichia coli / drug effects
  • Escherichia coli / metabolism
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Salmonella enterica / drug effects
  • Salmonella enterica / metabolism
  • Time Factors

Substances

  • Anti-Infective Agents

Grants and funding

This study was funded by the Kansas Bioscience Authority through their support of the Institute of Computational Comparative Medicine at Kansas State University. ZD received a Summer 2015 Research Grant from the Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry of Kansas State University. The funders had no role in the study design, implementation, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.