The in-vitro antimicrobial effect of non-antibiotics and putative inhibitors of efflux pumps on Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus.

The anti-microbial activity of six non-antibiotics (one amino-ethylchloride, three phenothiazines, two tricyclic antidepressives) were tested on 20 clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, one clinical isolate of Klebsiella pneumoniae, 2 ATTC strains and 14 clinical isolates of Staphylococccus aureus, using the plate dilution method. The effects on P. aeruginosa were independent of antibiotic resistance pattern and the species Stenotrophomonas maltophilia was found to be the most susceptible to the non-antibiotics, with MIC values as low as 20 mg/l for some of the substances. The 16 S. aureus strains tested were all particularly susceptible to the anti-microbial effects of the putative inhibitors of efflux pumps thioridazine and trifluoperazine with MIC values of < or =16 mg/l independently of the methicillin resistance profile of the strains. Because phenothiazines are well known to inhibit efflux pumps our results may indicate the existence of such pumps. Current works in progress are attempts at reversing the antibiotic resistance of selected bacterial strains using specific non-antibiotics and their stereo-chemical isomers.