Following the Mechanisms of Bacteriostatic versus Bactericidal Action Using Raman Spectroscopy

Molecules

Silvie Bernatová¹  Ota Samek¹  Zdeněk Pilát¹  Mojmír ᘎrý¹  Jan Je៮k¹  Petr Jákl¹  Martin Šiler¹  Vladislav Krzyžánek¹  Pavel Zemánek¹  Veronika Holá²  Milada Dvořáčková² 

[1] Institute of Scientific Instruments of the Academy of Science of the Czech republic, v.v.i., Královopolská 147, 612 64 Brno, Czech Republic; E-Mails:;Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine and St. Anne’s Faculty Hospital, Brno, Czech Republic; E-Mails:

关键词: Raman spectroscopy;    antibiotics;    bacteria;    bactericidal;    bacteriostatic;   

DOI  :  10.3390/molecules181113188

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Antibiotics cure infections by influencing bacterial growth or viability. Antibiotics can be divided to two groups on the basis of their effect on microbial cells through two main mechanisms, which are either bactericidal or bacteriostatic. Bactericidal antibiotics kill the bacteria and bacteriostatic antibiotics suppress the growth of bacteria (keep them in the stationary phase of growth). One of many factors to predict a favorable clinical outcome of the potential action of antimicrobial chemicals may be provided using in vitro bactericidal/bacteriostatic data (e.g., minimum inhibitory concentrations—MICs). Consequently, MICs are used in clinical situations mainly to confirm resistance, and to determine the in vitro activities of new antimicrobials. We report on the combination of data obtained from MICs with information on microorganisms’ “fingerprint” (e.g., DNA/RNA, and proteins) provided by Raman spectroscopy. Thus, we could follow mechanisms of the bacteriostatic versus bactericidal action simply by detecting the Raman bands corresponding to DNA. The Raman spectra of Staphylococcus epidermidis treated with clindamycin (a bacteriostatic agent) indeed show little effect on DNA which is in contrast with the action of ciprofloxacin (a bactericidal agent), where the Raman spectra show a decrease in strength of the signal assigned to DNA, suggesting DNA fragmentation.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.