Gerard Lee L. See, Kim Sacha A. Mirasol, Cassandra Lomax A. Rodriguez, Florencio V. Arce
The impossibility of eradicating the reason of recurrence of common bacterial diseases is our impetus in this study. Recent studies proved that this recurrence is caused by a subpopulation of bacteria, called the persisters, which is not susceptible with any antibiotic treatment because of its quasi-dormant state. Bacterial cellular processes are completely shut down but it thrives with cellular respiration and translation – making it possible for aminoglycoside antibiotics to target the ribosome. However, aminoglycosides have weak bactericidal activity and is energy dependent. The addition of sugar acts as the intermediate metabolite and produce energy to increase aminoglycoside uptake through proton motive force. As aminoglycoside uptake is increased, the eradication of the bacterial cell also increased. Different combinations of aminoglycoside and sugar metabolites were added to assayed bacterial persisters and spotted in a Luria-Bertani Agar to determine the number of colonies and its colony forming unit. The Escherichia coli persisters have the highest number of colonies which increases proportionally with time, while E. coli persisters with metabolite – aminoglycoside combination has a decreasing number of colonies as time increases. Galactose – gentamicin combination has the least number of colonies formed, with 7, 2, 0 and 0 for the first, second, third and fourth hour, respectively. The combination of galactose with gentamicin resulted to a decrease of active bacterial cells and decrease of persister viability as contact time increases. Therefore, Galactose – gentamicin combination is the best option for effective eradication of E. coli persisters via metabolic stimulation. © 2016, International Journal of Toxicological and Pharmacological Research. All rights reserved.
Department of Pharmacy, School of Health Care Professions, University of San Carlos Nasipit Talamban, Cebu City, 6000, Philippines
