Determination of compound kill kinetics against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

In this chapter, we describe how to determine the kill kinetics and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of a compound against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Techniques are described for three conditions: actively growing aerobic bacteria, and non-replicating bacteria induced by nutrient starvation and/or low pH. Each technique involves determining the number of viable bacteria in the presence of several concentrations of compound over 3 weeks. Guidelines for how to interpret the results, to determine if growth-inhibitory compounds are bactericidal or bacteriostatic and also whether compounds exhibit time-dependent or concentration-dependent kill are provided.