[Microbiological consequences of chelation of bivalent metal cations by nitroxoline].

The present work deals with the physico-chemical and microbiological investigations made in order to explain the role of divalent cations in the mechanism of the action of nitroxoline (NIT), an antibiotic used in the treatment of uncomplicated urinary tract infections. Preliminary studies reported that bacteriostatic and bactericidal activities of NIT on Escherichia coli strains are decreased in the presence of Mg2+ and Mn2+ but not with Ca2+. A spectrophotometric study, conducted in order to elucidate the interaction between metal ions and NIT, showed the formation of drug-metal ion complexes. In addition, we examined the relationships between the metal ions-chelating property of NIT and its effects on the decrease of the mannose sensitive hemagglutination titer and the production of siderophores from E. coli. The results suggested that these antimicrobial activities of NIT would also be due to the complexation of metal ions by this molecule.