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Effects of erythromycin on Pseudomonas aeruginosa adherence to collagen and morphology in vitro

¹ Depts of Medicine, ² Microbiology and ³ Anatomy, The University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital

CORRESPONDENCE: K.W.T. Tsang, Division of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, University Department of Medicine, Queen Mary Hospital, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China. Fax: 852 28725828. E-mail: kwttsang@hku.hk

Keywords: bacterial adherence, bacterial morphology, erythromycin, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, subminimal inhibitory concentration

Received: June 13, 2002
Accepted October 15, 2002

This study was funded by a Hong Kong RGC Grant.

The airways of patients with bronchiectasis and cystic fibrosis are often chronically colonised by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA), which is virtually impossible to eradicate. Low-dose erythromycin (EM), for unknown mechanisms, is efficacious in bronchiectasis and diffuse panbronchiolitis.

In this study, an in vitro model to investigate PA adherence to human type IV basement collagen was developed by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). There were significantly less PA bacilli per 20 random SEM fields (4,000x) when PA was cultured in 0.05, 0.5 and 5 µg·mL^–1 of EM compared with control (absence of EM). Adherence density (20 SEM fields·log^–1 inocular size) for PA obtained from no EM (56.8±43.16) was significantly higher than that obtained from 0.05, 0.5, and 5 µg·mL^–1 EM (21.5±17.56, 23.3±16.65, and 21.4±12.65 respectively). By using SEM it was found that PA, when incubated in EM (0.05, 0.5, 5 µg·mL^–1) had a significant reduction in its diagonal length, radius, height, volume and surface area.

It is possible, therefore, that these misshaped Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacilli are more susceptible to host defence mechanisms, while at the same time less adherent to the basement membrane of the airway in vivo. Therefore, this could help explain the clinical efficacy of low-dose erythromycin therapy on patients with Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				K.W. Tsang, D.K. Shum, S. Chan, P. Ng, J. Mak, R. Leung, I.H. Shum, G.C. Ooi, G.L. Tipoe, and W.K. Lam Pseudomonas aeruginosa adherence to human basement membrane collagen in vitro Eur. Respir. J., June 1, 2003; 21(6): 932 - 938. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]