Novel antibiotic susceptibility tests by the ATP-bioluminescence method using filamentous cell treatment

Abstract

Antimicrobial susceptibility testing by the ATP-bioluminescence method has been noted for its speed; it provides susceptibility results within 2 to 5 h. However, several disagreements between the ATP method and standard methodology have been reported. The present paper describes a novel ATP method in a 3.5-h test which overcomes these deficiencies through the elimination of false-resistance discrepancies in tests on gram-negative bacteria with beta-lactam agents. In our test model using Pseudomonas aeruginosa and piperacillin, it was shown that ATP in filamentous cells accounted for the false resistance. We found that 0.5% 2-amino-2-methyl-1,3-propanediol (AMPD) extracted ATP from the filamentous cells without affecting normal cells and that 0.3 U of adenosine phosphate deaminase (APDase)/ml simultaneously digested the extracted ATP. We used the mixture of these reagents for the pretreatment of cells in a procedure we named filamentous cell treatment, prior to ATP measurements. This novel ATP method with the filamentous cell treatment eliminated false-resistance discrepancies in tests on P. aeruginosa with beta-lactam agents, including piperacillin, cefoperazone, aztreonam, imipenem-cilastatin, ceftazidime, and cefsulodin. Furthermore, this novel methodology produced results which agreed with those of the standard microdilution method in other tests on gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, including P. aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Enterococcus faecalis, for non-beta-lactam agents, such as fosfomycin, ofloxacin, minocycline, and aminoglycosides. MICs obtained by the novel ATP method were also in agreement with those obtained by the agar dilution method of susceptibility testing. From these results, it was shown that the novel ATP method could be used successfully to test the activities of antimicrobial agents with the elimination of the previously reported discrepancies.

FIG. 1

Growth curves of E. coli ATCC 25922 (A) and P. aeruginosa ATCC 27853 (B) by the standard ATP-bioluminescence method in broth with (solid circles) or without (open circles) 5 μg of piperacillin per ml, corresponding to 1.5 times the MIC for both organisms.

FIG. 2

Determination of optimal conditions for the extraction of ATP from filamentous cells using AMPD. The optimal concentration of AMPD (A) and the time required for extraction of ATP by 0.5% of AMPD (B) are shown.