Biomaterial Database

[In vitro synergy between cefotaxime and its main metabolite, desacetylcefotaxime]. 1988

S Kobayashi, and S Arai, and S Hayashi, and T Sakaguchi, and R Kawana

Pharma Research and Development Division, Hoechst Japan Limited.

In vitro synergistic interaction between cefotaxime (CTX) and its main metabolite, desacetyl-cefotaxime (DCTX), against 7 species of clinical isolates (23-27 strains per species) was examined. Complete or partial synergy was noted with a 1:1 combination of CTX and DCTX against 22-78% of the Bacteroides fragilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Citrobacter freundii, Pseudomonas cepacia and Enterobacter cloacae isolates examined. Antagonistic effects of the drugs appeared against 11% of Proteus vulgaris and 4% of Serratia marcescens. When combined at various ratios by the checkerboard method and tested against B. fragilis, CTX and DCTX were found to act synergistically, and no antagonism occurred. The combined use of CTX and DCTX exhibited strong bactericidal activity against B. fragilis and inhibited bacterial regrowth. An experiment with concentrations of CTX and DCTX simulating human serum levels after intravenous administration also showed that the coexistence of DCTX augmented bactericidal activity of CTX against B. fragilis and brought inhibitory effects on bacterial regrowth. It is presumed from the present results that clinically applied CTX would have more potent effects than expected from in vitro sensitivity test data.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D002439	Cefotaxime	Semisynthetic broad-spectrum cephalosporin.	Benaxima,Biosint,Cefotaxim,Cefotaxime Sodium,Cefradil,Cephotaxim,Claforan,Fotexina,HR-756,Kendrick,Klaforan,Primafen,Ru-24756,Taporin,HR 756,HR756,Ru 24756,Ru24756,Sodium, Cefotaxime
D004357	Drug Synergism	The action of a drug in promoting or enhancing the effectiveness of another drug.	Drug Potentiation,Drug Augmentation,Augmentation, Drug,Augmentations, Drug,Drug Augmentations,Drug Potentiations,Drug Synergisms,Potentiation, Drug,Potentiations, Drug,Synergism, Drug,Synergisms, Drug
D001419	Bacteria	One of the three domains of life (the others being Eukarya and ARCHAEA), also called Eubacteria. They are unicellular prokaryotic microorganisms which generally possess rigid cell walls, multiply by cell division, and exhibit three principal forms: round or coccal, rodlike or bacillary, and spiral or spirochetal. Bacteria can be classified by their response to OXYGEN: aerobic, anaerobic, or facultatively anaerobic; by the mode by which they obtain their energy: chemotrophy (via chemical reaction) or PHOTOTROPHY (via light reaction); for chemotrophs by their source of chemical energy: CHEMOLITHOTROPHY (from inorganic compounds) or chemoorganotrophy (from organic compounds); and by their source for CARBON; NITROGEN; etc.; HETEROTROPHY (from organic sources) or AUTOTROPHY (from CARBON DIOXIDE). They can also be classified by whether or not they stain (based on the structure of their CELL WALLS) with CRYSTAL VIOLET dye: gram-negative or gram-positive.	Eubacteria
D001441	Bacteroides fragilis	Gram-negative bacteria occurring in the lower intestinal tracts of man and other animals. It is the most common species of anaerobic bacteria isolated from human soft tissue infections.