Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2006 Jan;50(1):382-4.
doi: 10.1128/AAC.50.1.382-384.2006.

Arginine or nitrate enhances antibiotic susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in biofilms

Giorgia Borriello  1 , Lee Richards, Garth D Ehrlich, Philip S Stewart
Affiliations

Arginine or nitrate enhances antibiotic susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in biofilms

Giorgia Borriello et al. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2006 Jan.

Abstract

Arginine enhanced the killing of Pseudomonas aeruginosa by ciprofloxacin and tobramycin under anaerobic, but not aerobic, growth conditions. Arginine or nitrate also enhanced the killing by these antibiotics in mature biofilms, reducing viable cell counts by a factor of 10 to 100 beyond that achieved by antibiotics alone.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIG. 1.
FIG. 1.
Effect of arginine on the antibiotic susceptibility of P. aeruginosa in young (4-h) colony biofilms under aerobic (A) and anaerobic (B) conditions. Error bars denote standard deviations.
FIG. 2.
FIG. 2.
Effect of arginine on the antibiotic susceptibility of P. aeruginosa in aerobic 48-h colony biofilms (A) and 72-h drip flow reactor biofilms (B). Error bars denote standard deviations.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Borriello, G., E. Werner, F. Roe, A. M. Kim, G. D. Ehrlich, and P. S. Stewart. 2004. Oxygen limitation contributes to antibiotic tolerance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in biofilms. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 48:2659-2664. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Costerton, J. W., P. S. Stewart, and E. P. Greenberg. 1999. Bacterial biofilms: a common cause of persistent infections. Science 284:1318-1322. - PubMed
    1. Cunin, R., N. Glansdorff, A. Piérard, and V. Stalon. 1986. Biosynthesis and metabolism of arginine in bacteria. Microbiol. Rev. 50:314-352. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dietzsch, H.-J., B. Gottschalk, K. Heyne, W. Leupold, and P. Wunderlich. 1975. Cystic fibrosis: comparison of two mucolytic drugs for inhalation treatment (acetylcysteine and arginine hydrochloride). Pediatrics 55:96-100. - PubMed
    1. Drenkard, E., and F. M. Ausubel. 2002. Pseudomonas biofilm formation and antibiotic resistance are linked to phenotypic variation. Nature 416:740-743. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms