Antimicrobial properties of methdilazine and its synergism with antibiotics and some chemotherapeutic agents.

The antihistamine methdilazine (Md) was found to possess a significantly high antibacterial action when tested against 367 strains of bacteria belonging to both Gram-positive and Gram-negative genera. Different groups of bacteria could be arranged in order of their decreasing sensitivity towards Md as follows: S. aureus, V. cholerae, E. coli and Shigella. The range of minimum inhibitory concentration (micrograms/ml) varied between 25 and 200 in most cases, although few strains were sensitive even at 10 micrograms/ml level of Md. 10 different bacteria sensitive to Md and a number of antibiotics when tested for their interaction with Md on one hand and any of the antibiotics of chemotherapeutic agents on the other, it was found that Md in combination with aminoglycosides and several chemotherapeutics showed enhancement of antibacterial effects resulting in synergism. The chemotherapeutic agents bromodiphenhydramine (Bn), diphenhydramine and methyldopa showed distinct synergism when tested in combination with Md. Determination of the area of inhibition zones for the degree of synergism with Md and streptomycin (Sm) produced statistically significant result (p less than 0.01) in comparison with their individual effect. This could also be corroborated by the fractional inhibitory concentration (FIC) index which was 0.49 for Sm-Md and 0.5 for Bn-Md combinations. The synergism of Sm-Md combination was confirmed by in vivo studies.