Antibacterial activities of tosufloxacin against anaerobic bacteria and the electron micrograph of its bactericidal effects.

Tosufloxacin, a quinolone, showed a broad antibacterial spectrum against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria including anaerobic bacteria. Tosufloxacin was 4- to 8-fold more active than levofloxacin and ciprofloxacin. The MIC90 of tosufloxacin for clinical isolates of Bacteroides fragilis, Bacteroides vulgatus, Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron and Peptostreptococcus asaccharolyticus were 0.78, 0.39, 1.56 and 0.39 micrograms/ml, respectively. Morphological observation with the scanning and transmission electron microscope revealed that exposure of B. fragilis ATCC 25285 to tosufloxacin resulted in the formation of filamentous cells with mesosome-like structures. Tosufloxacin also induced the mini-cell resulting from the unusual cell division system and a number of holes in the outer membrane. Tosufloxacin at 4 MIC caused some change in cell wall organization and cell lysis. After exposure of P. asaccharolyticus ATCC 14953 to tosufloxacin, the cells increased considerably in size and the cell wall and cross wall thickening was observed.