Evaluation of antibacterial agents in a high-volume bovine polymorphonuclear neutrophil Staphylococcus aureus intracellular killing assay.

A bovine polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) monolayer system was used to determine the ability of different antibiotics to kill surviving intracellular Staphylococcus aureus. The following classes of antimicrobial agents were tested in this high-volume assay procedure: aminocyclitol, beta-lactam, coumarin, lincosaminide, macrolide, naphthalenic ansamycin, paulomycin, peptide, quinolone, and tetracycline. The activities of these compounds were compared with those of positive (rifampin), negative (cloxacillin), and non-antibiotic-treated controls. Only oxytetracycline, the ansamycins (rifampin, rifamycin SV, streptovaricin A, C, and D), paulomycin, and paldimycin caused a significant reduction in the viable count of intracellular S. aureus. Of these, however, the intracellular killing by the streptovaricins was directly related to the cytotoxicity (as determined by trypan blue exclusion) of these compounds for the PMNs. Although the paulomycins were cytotoxic for the PMNs, the cytotoxic and the intracellular killing activity of these new compounds could be distinguished. The relevance of these results to the therapeutic effectiveness of these antibiotics in the treatment of bovine staphylococcal mastitis is discussed.