scholarly journals Polymyxin E–Resistant Gram-Negative Bacteria in Tunisia and Neighboring Countries: Are There Commonalities?

2021 ◽  
Vol Volume 14 ◽  
pp. 4821-4832
Author(s):  
Olfa Dziri ◽  
Raoudha Dziri ◽  
Allaaeddin A El Salabi ◽  
Alhussain A Alawami ◽  
Riadh Ksouri ◽  
...  
2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianhua Yin ◽  
Gang Wang ◽  
Dan Cheng ◽  
Jianv Fu ◽  
Juanping Qiu ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTPolymyxins are nonribosomal peptide antibiotics used as the last-resort drug for treatment of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. However, strains that are resistant to polymyxins have emerged in many countries. Although several mechanisms for polymyxin resistance have been well described, there is little knowledge on the hydrolytic mechanism of polymyxin. Here, we identified a polymyxin-inactivating enzyme fromBacillus licheniformisstrain DC-1 which was produced and secreted into the medium during entry into stationary phase. After purification, sequencing, and heterologous expression, we found that the alkaline protease Apr is responsible for inactivation of polymyxins. Analysis of inactivation products demonstrated that Apr cleaves polymyxin E at two peptide bonds: one is between the tripeptide side chain and the cyclic heptapeptide ring, the other betweenl-Thr andl-α-γ-diaminobutyric acid (l-Dab) within the cyclic heptapeptide ring. Apr is highly conserved among several genera of Gram-positive bacteria, includingBacillusandPaenibacillus. It is noteworthy that two peptidases S8 from Gram-negative bacteria shared high levels of sequence identity with Apr. Our results indicate that polymyxin resistance may result from inactivation of antibiotics by hydrolysis.


Molecules ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martti Vaara

Polymyxins (polymyxin B (PMB) and polymyxin E (colistin)) are cyclic lipodecapeptide antibiotics, highly basic due to five free amino groups, and rapidly bactericidal against Gram-negative bacteria, such as the majority of Enterobacteriaceae as well as Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Their clinical use was abandoned in the 1960s because of nephrotoxicity and because better-tolerated drugs belonging to other antibiotic classes were introduced. Now, due to the global dissemination of extremely-drug resistant Gram-negative bacterial strains, polymyxins have resurged as the last-line drugs against those strains. Novel derivatives that are less toxic and/or more effective at tolerable doses are currently under preclinical development and their properties have recently been described in several extensive reviews. Other derivatives lack any direct bactericidal activity but damage the outermost permeability barrier, the outer membrane, of the target bacteria and make it more permeable to many other antibiotics. This review describes the properties of three thus far best-characterized “permeabilizer” derivatives, i.e., the classic permeabilizer polymyxin B nonapeptide (PMBN), NAB7061, and SPR741/NAB741, a compound that recently successfully passed the clinical phase 1. Also, a few other permeabilizer compounds are brought up.


Antibiotics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richter ◽  
Krüger ◽  
Prasad ◽  
Gastiger ◽  
Bodenschatz ◽  
...  

Colistin (polymyxin E) is a membrane-destabilizing antibiotic used against Gram-negative bacteria. We have recently reported that the outer membrane prevents the uptake of antibacterial chlorophyllin into Gram-negative cells. In this study, we used sub-toxic concentrations of colistin to weaken this barrier for a combination treatment of Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium with chlorophyllin. In the presence of 0.25 µg/mL colistin, chlorophyllin was able to inactivate both bacteria strains at concentrations of 5–10 mg/L for E. coli and 0.5–1 mg/L for S. Typhimurium, which showed a higher overall susceptibility to chlorophyllin treatment. In accordance with a previous study, chlorophyllin has proven antibacterial activity both as a photosensitizer, illuminated with 12 mW/cm2, and in darkness. Our data clearly confirmed the relevance of the outer membrane in protection against xenobiotics. Combination treatment with colistin broadens chlorophyllin’s application spectrum against Gram-negatives and gives rise to the assumption that chlorophyllin together with cell membrane-destabilizing substances may become a promising approach in bacteria control. Furthermore, we demonstrated that colistin acts as a door opener even for the photodynamic inactivation of colistin-resistant (mcr-1-positive) E. coli cells by chlorophyllin, which could help us to overcome this antimicrobial resistance.


Author(s):  
Roger C. Wagner

Bacteria exhibit the ability to adhere to the apical surfaces of intestinal mucosal cells. These attachments either precede invasion of the intestinal wall by the bacteria with accompanying inflammation and degeneration of the mucosa or represent permanent anchoring sites where the bacteria never totally penetrate the mucosal cells.Endemic gram negative bacteria were found attached to the surface of mucosal cells lining the walls of crypts in the rat colon. The bacteria did not intrude deeper than 0.5 urn into the mucosal cells and no degenerative alterations were detectable in the mucosal lining.


Author(s):  
Jacob S. Hanker ◽  
Paul R. Gross ◽  
Beverly L. Giammara

Blood cultures are positive in approximately only 50 per cent of the patients with nongonococcal bacterial infectious arthritis and about 20 per cent of those with gonococcal arthritis. But the concept that gram-negative bacteria could be involved even in chronic arthritis is well-supported. Gram stains are more definitive in staphylococcal arthritis caused by gram-positive bacteria than in bacterial arthritis due to gram-negative bacteria. In the latter situation where gram-negative bacilli are the problem, Gram stains are helpful for 50% of the patients; they are only helpful for 25% of the patients, however, where gram-negative gonococci are the problem. In arthritis due to gram-positive Staphylococci. Gramstained smears are positive for 75% of the patients.


Author(s):  
Xie Nianming ◽  
Ding Shaoqing ◽  
Wang Luping ◽  
Yuan Zenglin ◽  
Zhan Guolai ◽  
...  

Perhaps the data about periplasmic enzymes are obtained through biochemical methods but lack of morphological description. We have proved the existence of periplasmic bodies by electron microscope and described their ultrastructures. We hope this report may draw the attention of biochemists and mrophologists to collaborate on researches in periplasmic enzymes or periplasmic bodies with each other.One or more independent bodies may be seen in the periplasmic space between outer and inner membranes of Gram-negative bacteria, which we called periplasmic bodies. The periplasmic bodies have been found in seven species of bacteria at least, including the Pseudomonas aeroginosa. Shigella flexneri, Echerichia coli. Yersinia pestis, Campylobacter jejuni, Proteus mirabilis, Clostridium tetani. Vibrio cholerae and Brucella canis.


Author(s):  
Jacob S. Hanker ◽  
Dale N. Holdren ◽  
Kenneth L. Cohen ◽  
Beverly L. Giammara

Keratitis and conjunctivitis (infections of the cornea or conjunctiva) are ocular infections caused by various bacteria, fungi, viruses or parasites; bacteria, however, are usually prominent. Systemic conditions such as alcoholism, diabetes, debilitating disease, AIDS and immunosuppressive therapy can lead to increased susceptibility but trauma and contact lens use are very important factors. Gram-negative bacteria are most frequently cultured in these situations and Pseudomonas aeruginosa is most usually isolated from culture-positive ulcers of patients using contact lenses. Smears for staining can be obtained with a special swab or spatula and Gram staining frequently guides choice of a therapeutic rinse prior to the report of the culture results upon which specific antibiotic therapy is based. In some cases staining of the direct smear may be diagnostic in situations where the culture will not grow. In these cases different types of stains occasionally assist in guiding therapy.


Author(s):  
J Hanker ◽  
E.J. Burkes ◽  
G. Greco ◽  
R. Scruggs ◽  
B. Giammara

The mature neutrophil with a segmented nucleus (usually having 3 or 4 lobes) is generally considered to be the end-stage cell of the neutrophil series. It is usually found as such in the bone marrow and peripheral blood where it normally is the most abundant leukocyte. Neutrophils, however, must frequently leave the peripheral blood and migrate into areas of infection to combat microorganisms. It is in such areas that neutrophils were first observed to fragment to form platelet-size particles some of which have a nuclear lobe. These neutrophil pseudoplatelets (NPP) can readily be distinguished from true platelets because they stain for neutrophil myeloperoxidase. True platelets are not positive in this staining reaction because their peroxidase Is inhibited by glutaraldehyde. Neutrophil pseudoplatelets, as well as neutrophils budding to form NPP, could frequently be observed in peripheral blood or bone marrow samples of leukemia patients. They are much more prominent, however, in smears of inflammatory exudates that contain gram-negative bacteria and in gingival crevicular fluid samples from periodontal disease sites. In some of these samples macrophages ingesting, or which contained, pseudoplatelets could be observed. The myeloperoxidase in the ingested pseudoplatelets was frequently active. Despite these earlier observations we did not expect to find many NPP in subgingival plaque smears from diseased sites. They were first seen by light microscopy (Figs. 1, 3-5) in smears on coverslips stained with the PATS reaction, a variation of the PAS reaction which deposits silver for light and electron microscopy. After drying replicate PATS-stained coverslips with hexamethyldisilazane, they were sputter coated with gold and then examined by the SEI and BEI modes of scanning electron microscopy (Fig. 2). Unstained replicate coverslips were fixed, and stained for the demonstration of myeloperoxidase in budding neutrophils and NPP. Neutrophils, activated macrophages and spirochetes as well as other gram-negative bacteria were also prominent in the PATS stained samples. In replicate subgingival plaque smears stained with our procedure for granulocyte peroxidases only neutrophils, budding neutrophils or NPP were readily observed (Fig. 6).


Author(s):  
Rubal C Das ◽  
Rajib Banik ◽  
Robiul Hasan Bhuiyan ◽  
Md Golam Kabir

Macrophomina phaseolina is one of the pathogenic organisms of gummosis disease of orange tree (Citrus reticulata). The pathogen was identified from the observation of their colony size, shape, colour, mycelium, conidiophore, conidia, hyaline, spore, and appressoria in the PDA culture. The crude chloroform extracts from the organism showed antibacterial activity against a number of Gram positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The crude chloroform extract also showed promising antifungal activity against three species of the genus Aspergillus. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the crude chloroform extract from M. phaseolina against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Shigella sonnie were 128 ?gm, 256 ?gm, 128 ?gm and 64 ?gm/ml respectively. The LD50 (lethal dose) values of the cytotoxicity assay over brine shrimp of the crude chloroform extract from M. phaseolina was found to be 51.79 ?gm/ml. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/cujbs.v5i1.13378 The Chittagong Univ. J. B. Sci.,Vol. 5(1 &2):125-133, 2010


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