Background:

In view of the current low efficacy of bacterial infection treatment the common trend towards searching for antibiotic systems exhibiting synergistic action is well justified. Among carbapenem analogues a particularly interesting option is provided by combinations of clavulanic acid with meropenem, which have proven to be especially effective.

Results:

Determination of the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) along with the method based on flow cytometry constitutes an important tool in the identification of bacterial sensitivity to active substances. Within this study the inhibitory effect of doripenem, clavulanic acid and the doripenem-clavulanate acid system was analyzed in relation to such bacteria as Salmonella enteritidis, Salmonella typhimurium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris, Clostridium butyricum and Clostridium pasteurianum, Acinetobacter baumannii, Enterobacter aerogenes. The lowest MIC, amounting to 0.03 μg/mL, was observed for the doripenem-clavulanate acid system in the case of E. coli ATCC 25922. In turn, the lowest MIC for doripenem applied alone was recorded for K. pneumoniae ATCC 31488, for which it was 0.1 μg/mL. The strain which proved to be most resistant both to doripenem and the doripenem-clavulanate acid system, was A. baumannii, with MIC of 32 μg/mL (clinical isolate) and 16 μg/mL (reference strain). Cytometric analysis for P. aeruginosa ATCC 27853 and S. aureus ATCC 25923 showed changes in cells following exposure to limiting concentrations of the active substance.

Conclusions:

Analysis of MIC supplies important information concerning microbial sensitivity to active substances, mainly in terms of limiting concentrations causing mortality or vitality of the tested species, which is essential when selecting appropriate antibiotic therapy.