The antibacterial activity of combinations of mecillinam and ampicillin in vitro and in normal and granulopenic mice.

The antibacterial activity of mecillinam and ampicillin, alone and in combination, against Escherichia coli was quantitated and compared in vitro and in vivo. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were determined for both antibiotics individually and combined. Two-hour growth curves were established in vitro. A quadratic fit to these growth curves provided quantitative concentration-dependent growth characteristics. The antibacterial activity in vivo was determined by applying a short-term thigh muscle infection model to normal and irradiated granulopenic mice. The effects in vivo were also quantitated as dose-dependent or concentration-dependent parameters. Mecillinam showed activity in vitro, but none in vivo. Combinations of mecillinam with ampicillin showed a strong potentiation, as judged from MICs and from short-term experiments in vitro and in the normal and irradiated granulopenic mice. The potentiating activity in vivo was not influenced by host factors (i.e. granulocytes). However, the degree of potentiation indicated by the MICs led to strong overestimation of the effect of the combination of the two antibiotics on short-term in vitro growth. Furthermore, the combined activity in vitro overestimated the potentiating effect of the two antibiotics in vivo.