Uptake, accumulation, and egress of erythromycin by tissue culture cells of human origin.

The ability of erythromycin A base to penetrate and accumulate in tissue culture cells of human origin was investigated. The antibiotic was highly concentrated by early passage cells of normal bronchus, kidney, liver, lung, and skin and by cancer cells derived from breast, liver, and lung. Intracellular levels 4 to 12 times that of the extracellular milieu were obtained in both early-passage and transformed cells. The total quantity of erythromycin accumulated depended on the extracellular concentration of antibiotic, but the cellular/extracellular ratios were, for the most part, independent of the initial extracellular drug concentration. In all cell types tested, the accumulated antibiotic rapidly egressed when cells were incubated in antibiotic-free medium. Bioactivity assays demonstrated that the expelled drug was unmetabolized, fully active antibiotic. The concentration of erythromycin by a variety of human cell types probably accounts, in part, for the effectiveness of the antibiotic against intracellular parasites such as Legionella and Chlamydia spp.