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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, February 2005, p. 685-689, Vol. 49, No. 2
0066-4804/05/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/AAC.49.2.685-689.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy, Minneapolis, Minnesota,1 University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois2
Received 21 June 2004/ Returned for modification 11 August 2004/ Accepted 21 October 2004
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Escherichia coli and Bacteroides fragilis are the organisms most commonly isolated from intra-abdominal abscesses (12). B. fragilis is known to be the most important anaerobic pathogen but accounts for only 0.5% of the normal colonic flora (4). A capsular polysaccharide, adherence potential, piliation, and toxin production all contribute to the virulence of B. fragilis (4).
The polymicrobial nature of intra-abdominal infections requires the use of either dual therapy or broad-spectrum monotherapy. Fluoroquinolones have typically been avoided as monotherapy for mixed infections because of their marginal activities against anaerobes. However, moxifloxacin has been suggested for monotherapy of intra-abdominal infections and polymicrobial surgical infections due to its broad spectrum of activity against anaerobes in vitro (1, 3). Conversely, metronidazole is commonly used in combination regimens because of its excellent coverage against anaerobic organisms. Recently, a combination regimen of levofloxacin plus metronidazole once daily has been suggested as a potential treatment for mixed infections (K. A. Sprandel, G. L. Drusano, D. W. Hecht, J. C. Rotschafer, L. H. Danziger, and K. A. Rodvold, Abstr. 43rd Intersci. Conf. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother., abstr. A-15, 2003; K. A. Sprandel, C. A. Schriever, S. L. Pendland, J. P. Quinn, M. H. Gotfried, L. H. Danziger, and K. A. Rodvold, Abstr. 43rd Intersci. Conf. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother., abstr. A-1154, 2003).
The purpose of this study was to compare the activity of combination therapy with levofloxacin plus metronidazole once daily versus that of moxifloxacin monotherapy in an in vitro mixed-infection model with E. coli and B. fragilis.
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In vitro model. The experiments were conducted by using a previously described in vitro model (14) placed in a Bactron IV anaerobic chamber (Sheldon Manufacturing, Cornelius, Oreg.). At the start of each experiment, an inoculum of the organism(s) was instilled into each chemostat, followed by a bolus injection of levofloxacin, moxifloxacin, metronidazole, or levofloxacin plus metronidazole to produce the desired initial antibiotic concentration. Each experiment, including those with the growth controls, was run in duplicate for 24 h. Antibiotic-free Anaerobe Broth, MIC (ABM; Becton Dickinson, Sparks, Md.), was pumped via a peristaltic pump into the chemostats at a predetermined rate. Simultaneously, an equal volume of drug-containing ABM was displaced from the chemostats into a waste reservoir. This simulated a monoexponential pharmacokinetic process that produces the desired half-lives of the antibiotics.
Bacteria. Clinical isolates of E. coli (isolate 6857) and B. fragilis (isolate M97-117), kindly provided by Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceuticals (Raritan, N.J.) and Regions Hospital (St. Paul, Minn.), respectively, were studied. Prior to the concentration time-kill curve experiments, several colonies of each isolate were incubated anaerobically overnight in 50 ml of ABM. The overnight culture was then diluted 1:10 in fresh, warm ABM approximately 0.5 h prior to the experiment in order to allow the organisms to attain exponential growth. An appropriate amount of the culture, determined by comparison to a 0.5 McFarland equivalent turbidity standard, was added to each chemostat. The resultant starting bacterial inoculum was approximately 106 CFU/ml for all experiments. These procedures were followed for both organisms when the mixed-infection model experiments were conducted.
Susceptibility testing. Testing for antibiotic susceptibilities was performed in duplicate or triplicate for each isolate and the control isolates (E. coli ATCC 25922 and B. fragilis ATCC 25285) prior to the concentration time-kill experiments and for all isolates, if they were present, at 24 h postexposure. Susceptibility testing was performed by the broth microdilution method in cation-adjusted Mueller-Hinton broth for E. coli and ABM for B. fragilis with an inoculum between 105 and 106 CFU/ml. The 96-well trays inoculated with E. coli were incubated for 16 to 20 h at 36°C in ambient air. The 96-well trays inoculated with B. fragilis were incubated for 46 to 48 h at 36°C under anaerobic conditions. MICs are reported as the concentration in the first clear well (no growth). Colonies present at 24 h were frozen at 80°C in sterile defibrinated sheep blood until they were needed and were then subcultured onto fresh agar plates for at least two consecutive days prior to susceptibility testing.
Antibiotics. Stock solutions of levofloxacin (Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceuticals), moxifloxacin (Bayer, West Haven, Conn.), and metronidazole (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, Mo.) were prepared according to the instructions of the manufacturer and were kept at 80°C until they were needed for individual experiments. Antibiotics were administered as bolus injections once in a 24-h period to simulate once-daily dosing.
Pharmacokinetics. The respective half-lives simulated for levofloxacin, moxifloxacin, and metronidazole in each of the experiments were 8, 12, and 8 h. Targeted free peak drug concentrations (Cmax) for levofloxacin, moxifloxacin, and metronidazole were 8.5, 2.0, and 32 mg/liter, respectively. The Cmaxs, as well as the half-lives, were chosen because they represent clinically relevant free concentrations and half-lives in healthy volunteers after administration of the simulated intravenous doses shown in Table 1.
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TABLE 1. Values of the pharmacokinetic parameters for the study drugs
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0.9998). The interday coefficient of variance was 8.9%. The HPLC assay for the fluoroquinolones was linear over a range of 0.1 to 20 mg/liter (r2
0.9994). The interday and intraday coefficients of variance were 1.9 and 1.2%, respectively. Pharmacodynamics. At nine predetermined time points (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.5, 7, 12, and 24 h), 1-ml samples were removed from the models for quantification of the bacterial density by serial saline dilution techniques. Bacterial counts were determined by 1:10 serial dilution of a 100-µl sample into saline that was plated onto Trypticase soy agar plus 5% sheep blood (Becton Dickinson, Cockeysville, Md.) for E. coli or CDC anaerobic blood agar (Becton Dickinson) for B. fragilis. Selective medium plates were used in the mixed infection experiments. MacConkey II agar (Becton Dickinson) was used for the selection of E. coli, while laked blood agar with kanamycin and vancomycin (LKV; Remel, Lenexa, Kans.) was used for the selection of B. fragilis colonies. Antibiotic carryover was addressed by using saline dilution techniques.
After aerobic incubation for 18 to 24 h at 37°C, the numbers of E. coli CFU on each plate were counted visually. The numbers of B. fragilis CFU were counted visually after anaerobic incubation for 48 h at 37°C. The theoretical lower limit of bacterial counting accuracy (LLA) was 300 CFU/ml. Time-kill curves were constructed by plotting the log10 CFU per milliliter versus time. The slopes of the time-kill curves were compared for a rate-of-killing analysis by using a linear model with GraphPad Prism software (version 4.0; GraphPad Software, Inc., San Diego, Calif.).
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Pharmacokinetics. Comparison of the drug concentrations attained in the model (determined by HPLC) to the expected concentrations allowed verification of the values for the simulated pharmacokinetic parameters (half-life and Cmax). For the experiments with metronidazole alone against E. coli, including the mixed-infection model experiments, the gas production by the bacteria caused sporadic medium displacement, which accelerated the monoexponential elimination of the drug. Thus, the actual metronidazole concentrations in these experiments ranged from 33.6 to 51.9% of the expected concentrations, with a mean of 42.4% and a standard deviation of 10%. The half-lives, calculated by using the actual concentrations, of metronidazole alone against E. coli and against the mixed infection were 3 h. The actual concentrations of metronidazole in the remaining experiments with metronidazole against B. fragilis alone and in all experiments with the combination regimen of metronidazole plus levofloxacin ranged from 64.3 to 90.8% of the expected concentrations, with a mean of 83.5% and a standard deviation of 10%. The half-lives in these experiments, calculated by using the actual concentrations, ranged from 7.9 to 9.9 h.
The actual moxifloxacin concentrations ranged from 96.9 to 101.1% of the expected concentrations, with a mean of 98.9% and a standard deviation of 1.5%. The half-lives of moxifloxacin, calculated by using the actual concentrations, ranged from 10.2 to 10.3 h. The actual levofloxacin concentrations ranged from 99.7 to 105.3%, with a mean of 101.8% and a standard deviation of 1.6%. The half-lives of levofloxacin, calculated by using the actual concentrations, ranged from 7.5 to 8.7 h.
Time-kill curves. The time-kill curve for metronidazole, with an MIC of >64 mg/liter, against E. coli nicely followed the curve for the growth control. Levofloxacin, moxifloxacin, and levofloxacin plus metronidazole all produced a 3-log killing of E. coli, with a more rapid rate of killing by levofloxacin and levofloxacin plus metronidazole. Of note, significant regrowth, defined as an increase in the number of bacteria to quantifiable levels following a 3-log killing, occurred with moxifloxacin by the time that the sample at 5.5 h was obtained (Fig. 1). The area under the concentration-time curve (AUC)/MIC ratio for moxifloxacin was 26, while the AUC/MIC ratio for levofloxacin was 172. Thus, with the simulated clinical doses, the AUC/MIC ratio for moxifloxacin was below the typically recommended value of 100 to 125 for gram-negative bacteria, while that for levofloxacin was above this value.
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FIG. 1. Combined time-kill curve against E. coli. Growth control (squares), moxifloxacin (triangles), levofloxacin (upside-down triangles), metronidazole (diamonds), levofloxacin plus metronidazole (circles), and LLA (dashed horizontal line).
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FIG. 2. Combined time-kill curve against B. fragilis. Growth control (squares), moxifloxacin (triangles), levofloxacin (upside-down triangles), metronidazole (diamonds), levofloxacin plus metronidazole (circles), and LLA (dashed line).
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FIG. 3. Time-kill curves against mixed infections with of B. fragilis (A) and E. coli (B). (A) Results for the B. fragilis growth control (squares) and B. fragilis treated with moxifloxacin (triangles), levofloxacin (upside-down triangles), metronidazole (diamonds), and levofloxacin plus metronidazole (circles). Dashed line, LLA. (B) Results for the E. coli growth control (open squares) and E. coli treated with moxifloxacin (triangles), levofloxacin (upside-down triangles), metronidazole (diamonds), and levofloxacin plus metronidazole (circles). Dashed horizontal line, LLA.
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TABLE 2. Comparison of rates of killing
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The E. coli isolate used in this study, for which the fluoroquinolone MICs are higher than those typically reported for E. coli, was chosen for two reasons. First, the slightly higher MICs allow the visualization of any differences in the time-kill profiles between the fluoroquinolones. In other words, if a highly susceptible isolate had been used, the values on the time-kill curves would almost immediately have decreased below our LLA for both fluoroquinolones, preventing any differentiation. Second, the use of a less susceptible isolate represents a worst-case scenario and provides a conservative estimate of fluoroquinolone activity against the E. coli isolate that might typically be seen in intra-abdominal infections.
Moxifloxacin has been suggested as monotherapy for mixed infections (1, 3), although Snydman et al. (11) emphasize the importance of correct species identification of B. fragilis group species due to significant differences in in vitro activities. Additionally, the interpretation of in vitro susceptibility test results for moxifloxacin against B. fragilis cannot be performed because NCCLS has not yet adopted breakpoints for this antibiotic-bacterium combination. A study conducted by Brook (2) reports that the in vivo activities of fluoroquinolones against B. fragilis depend on the in vitro susceptibility testing results. However, in this study the activity of levofloxacin against B. fragilis in the in vitro pharmacodynamic model was almost identical to that of moxifloxacin, even though the moxifloxacin MIC was fourfold lower than that of levofloxacin for B. fragilis. Thus, the correlation between activity and in vitro susceptibility testing results reported by Brook (2) does not seem to apply to in vitro pharmacodynamic modeling.
The standard dose of metronidazole (500 to 1,000 mg every 6 to 8 h) was determined well before the science of pharmacodynamics surfaced. For metronidazole, the combination of the concentration-dependent bactericidal activity, significant postantibiotic effect, long half-life, and favorable safety profile enable manipulation of dosing regimens. Thus, the use of more convenient regimens of larger doses given less frequently seems feasible. A recent study evaluated the bactericidal activity of intravenous levofloxacin plus various doses of intravenous metronidazole, including a regimen of 1,500 mg q24h, against clinical isolates of B. fragilis, Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, Porphyromonas asaccharolytica, and E. coli in healthy subjects (Sprandel et al., 43rd ICAAC, abstr. A-1154). The investigators found that the combination of levofloxacin plus the same total daily dose of metronidazole (500 mg every 8 h or 1,500 mg q24h) resulted in comparable bactericidal activities against all isolates tested. The results of our study further support the potential for a once-daily combination regimen of levofloxacin plus metronidazole for the treatment of intra-abdominal infections.
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