Radiomimetic property of furazolidone and the caffeine enhancement of its lethal action on the vibrios.

Sensitivities of the strains belonging to four vibrio biotypes to the action of furazolidone were investigated. Vibrio cholerae (classical) was most and Vibrio parahaemolyticus least sensitive to this drug. Statistical analyses revealed significant differences between any two of the four types of vibrio in respect of their sensitivity to furazolidone. The drug was radiomimetic in action, the doses of UV light (DUV) and furazolidone (Df) required for 10% survival of the vibrios being correlated by the equation, Df = 0.28 exp. (0.008 DUV). Caffeine exhibited lethal synergism with furazolidone and the synergistic effect depended on the mode of caffeine treatment, the effect being maximum when caffeine was present along with and also after furazolidone treatment. UV spectrophotometric study revealed that caffeine did not bind with native DNA but did so with denatured DNA resulting in a bathochromic shift and a quenching of the caffeine absorption maximum at 209.4 nm. The binding isotherm (Scatchard plot) indicated the presence of a heterogeneity in the binding sites and that the parameters for the strongest mode of bonding were n = 0.254 and k = 7.5 X 10(5) M-1.