Subcellular Partitioning and Intramacrophage Selectivity of Antimicrobial Compounds against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

The efficacy of antimicrobial drugs against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, an intracellular bacterial pathogen, is generally first established by testing compounds against bacteria in axenic culture. However, inside infected macrophages, bacteria encounter an environment which differs substantially from broth culture and are subject to important host-dependent pharmacokinetic phenomena which modulate drug activity. Here, we describe how pH-dependent partitioning drives asymmetric antimicrobial drug distribution in M. tuberculosis-infected macrophages. Specifically, weak bases with moderate activity against M. tuberculosis (fluoxetine, sertraline, and dibucaine) were shown to accumulate intracellularly due to differential permeability and relative abundance of their ionized and nonionized forms. Nonprotonatable analogs of the test compounds did not show this effect. Neutralization of acidic organelles directly with ammonium chloride or indirectly with bafilomycin A1 partially abrogated the growth restriction of these drugs. Using high-performance liquid chromatography, we quantified the degree of accumulation and reversibility upon acidic compartment neutralization in macrophages and observed that accumulation was greater in infected than in uninfected macrophages. We further demonstrate that the efficacy of a clinically used compound, clofazimine, is augmented by pH-based partitioning in a macrophage infection model. Because the parameters which govern this effect are well understood and are amenable to chemical modification, this knowledge may enable the rational development of more effective antibiotics against tuberculosis.

Blood concentrations of tetracaine and its metabolite following spinal anesthesia.

Blood concentrations of tetracaine and its metabolite, p-butylaminobenzoic acid, were measured after spinal anesthesia with tetracaine which had been administered to patients under going orthopedic surgery. Tetracaine, an ester anesthetic, was given to 10 patients, the dose was 8-14mg, and blood samples were collected 1, 2 and 6h after the injection of tetracaine. We used gas chromatography/mass spectrometry for purposes of analysis. Tetracaine was not detected in any blood sample, but the metabolite was detected in each sample with the mean concentrations of 126.5, 97.9 and 43.3ng/ml at 1, 2 and 6h, respectively. This data will be useful in determination of the cause of death after spinal anesthesia with tetracaine.

Interaction of dibucaine with the transmembrane domain of the Ca(2+)-ATPase of sarcoplasmic reticulum.

The site of interaction of dibucaine with the Ca(2+)-ATPase of rabbit sarcoplasmic reticulum, an ion-transporting membrane protein, was investigated by determining the effect of dibucaine on the denaturation of the transmembrane domain and the aqueous domain containing, respectively, the high-affinity Ca2+ binding sites and the site of ATP hydrolysis. In the absence of Ca2+, a single irreversible denaturation transition with Tm approximately equal to 49 degrees C is observed for the Ca(2+)-ATPase by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). In the presence of Ca2+, but not Mg2+, Sr2+, or Ba2+, a new high-temperature transition is observed that has been shown to be due to stabilization of the transmembrane region [Lepock, J. R., Rodahl, A. M., Zhang, C., Heynen, M. L., Waters, B., & Cheng, K. H. (1990) Biochemistry 29, 681-689]. The maximum stabilization corresponds to a shift in Tm of 13.8 degrees C, and Hill analysis indicates that the Ca2+ binding site yielding stabilization has a Kd = 2.5 x 10(-4) M with a cooperativity (n) of 1. Thus, stabilization is due to Ca2+ binding not to the high-affinity sites but to one of the previously observed sites of low or intermediate affinity, which must be located in the transmembrane or stalk subdomains. Dibucaine has little effect on the Tm of the aqueous domain, but it decreases the Tm of the transmembrane domain with Kd approximately equal to 4.1 x 10(-4) M and a cooperativity of approximately 1.6, implying that destabilization is due to the binding of dibucaine to sites of intermediate or moderately high affinity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Tumor cell permeability to peplomycin.

The uptake of [3H]peplomycin-Cu(II) ([3H]PEP-Cu(II)) into various tumor cell lines was studied. The time course of [3H]PEP-Cu(II) uptake into AH66, AH66F, Ehrlich and P388 cells was biphasic. The first phase of uptake was completed within 5 minutes. The second, slower phase, of uptake into AH66, AH66F and Ehrlich cells increased linearly with incubation time, but that into P388 cells reached a plateau level. In L1210 cells, only the first rapid uptake was observed. The lower uptake into P388 and L1210 cells during the second phase may be related to their insensitivity to PEP. However, the uptake into AH66F cells was higher than that into AH66 cells, although AH66F cells were less sensitive to PEP than AH66 cells. Deamide PEP was detected in intact cells which had taken up [3H]PEP-Cu(II) during 4 hours. This confirmed that PEP-Cu(II) was transported into the cell, the copper removed and PEP metabolized to deamide PEP. [3H]PEP-Cu(II) uptake into AH66 and AH66F cells increased in proportion to the extracellular concentration of drug up to at least 200 micrograms/ml, suggesting that uptake was not mediated by a carrier system. Metabolic inhibitors such as NaN3 and 2,4-dinitrophenol enhanced [3H]PEP-Cu(II) uptake, but did not influence efflux. Uptake was also enhanced by membrane modifiers such as dibucaine and chlorpromazine which increase the fluidity of lipid membranes. The results suggest that PEP-Cu(II) was taken up into tumor cells by passive diffusion, controlled by an energy-dependent cell membrane barrier.