Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2008, 214(2)

Antimicrobial Effect of Fluoroquinolones for the Eradication of Nontypeable Haemophilus Influenzae Isolates within Biofilms

CHIHARU KAJI,¹ KIWAO WATANABE,¹ MICHAEL A. APICELLA² and HIROSHI WATANABE³

¹Department of Internal Medicine, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan
²Carver College of Medicine, Department of Microbiology, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
³Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Infectious Medicine, Kurume University School of Medicine, Fukuoka, Japan

Biofilms can be defined as communities of microorganisms attached to a surface. Those bacterial biofilms cause serious problems, such as antibiotic resistance and medical device-related infections. Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) is an important pathogen in respiratory infections, as it forms biofilms both in vitro and in vivo such as human middle ear. Recent reports indicate that otitis media, paranasal sinusitis and lower respiratory tract infections caused by Haemophilus influenzae have become more difficult to treat with oral antibiotic therapy. However, there has been no attention given to antibiotic eradication of NTHi biofilm. To investigate the antimicrobial effect of various antibiotics against NTHi biofilm formation, we conducted the following comparative study using both β-lactamase-negative ampicillin (AMP)-susceptible (BLNAS) and AMP-resistant (BLNAR) NTHi strains. In a microtiter biofilm assay, both levofloxacin and gatifloxacin, of the fluoroquinolone antibiotic group, significantly inhibited biofilm formation by BLNAS and BLNAR NTHi in a dose-dependent fashion compared to ampicillin of the penicillin antibiotic group, cefotaxime of the cephalosporin antibiotic group, and both erythromycin and clarithromycin of the macrolide antibiotic group. Furthermore, in flow cell chamber studies, confocal laser scanning microscopy counted survival bacteria in mature biofilm had been treated with gatifloxacin, ampicillin, cefotaxime and erythromycin. Only gatifloxacin completely killed the BLNAR NTHi isolates within biofilms without regard to the thickness of biofilm formation. The results of this study suggest that fluoroquinolones potentially have a role in therapy against diseases caused by both BLNAS and BLNAR NTHi isolates within biofilms.

keywords —— H. influenzae; BLNAS; BLNAR; biofilm; fluoroquinolone; ceftriaxone; ampicillin; macrolide.

© 2008 Tohoku University Medical Press

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2008, 214, 121-128

Correspondence: Dr. Hiroshi Watanabe, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Infectious Medicine, Kurume University School of Medicine, 67 Asahi-machi, Kurume, Fukuoka 830-0011, Japan.

e-mail: hwata@med.kurume-u.ac.jp