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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, January 2000, p. 68-72, Vol. 44, No. 1
Department of Immunology, Microbiology,
Pathology and Infectious Diseases, Huddinge University Hospital,
Karolinska Institute,1 and University
College of South Stockholm,3 Stockholm, Sweden,
and Kuwait University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of
Biochemistry, Safat, Kuwait2
Received 5 March 1999/Returned for modification 23 July
1999/Accepted 15 October 1999
The increasing problem of antibiotic resistance among pathogenic
bacteria requires development of new antimicrobial agents. One line of
investigation is the synthesis of antimicrobial hybrid peptides. The
aim of the present investigation was to determine the in vitro
activities of 16 cecropin-melittin hybrid peptides (CAMEL analogues)
against 60 anaerobic bacterial strains, to compare their activities
with those of seven clinically used antimicrobial agents, and to
compare different methods for anaerobic susceptibility testing of these
peptides. The stability of one of the peptides, temporin B, with
different stereoisomeric configurations was investigated in a fecal
milieu. The CAMEL analogues showed antimicrobial activity against the
anaerobic bacteria, with MICs ranging from 0.125 to 32 µg/ml. The
overall activities (the MICs at which 90% of isolates are inhibited)
of the CAMEL analogues against anaerobic bacteria were mainly inferior
to those of imipenem, clindamycin, and piperacillin but were equal to
or superior to those of metronidazole, cefoxitin, ciprofloxacin, and
chloramphenicol. The agarose dilution method was found to be an
accurate method for the testing of large numbers of bacterial strains.
The D isomer of temporin B was inactivated more slowly in
feces than the L isomer. This study shows that the CAMEL
analogues are potential agents for the treatment of anaerobic infections.
0066-4804/0/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Activities of Synthetic Hybrid Peptides against
Anaerobic Bacteria: Aspects of Methodology and Stability
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Immunology, Microbiology, Pathology and Infectious Diseases, Huddinge University Hospital, S-141 86 Huddinge, Sweden. Phone: 46-8-58581139. Fax: 46-8-7113918. E-mail:
Charlotta.Edlund{at}impi.ki.se.
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