Effect of polysaccharide interactions on antibiotic susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

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Abstract
The relative viscosity of Pseudomonas aeruginosa alginate was shown to increase markedly when combined with mucin, Ca2+ ions and the exopolysaccharide from Pseudomonas cepacia. The presence of such a heterodisperse polysaccharide solution significantly reduced the diffusion and hence antimicrobial activity of tobramycin and to a lesser extent ciprofloxacin against Ps. aeruginosa by factors of 90 and 2.5-fold respectively over a 5 h incubation period. The clinical implications of these results are discussed in relation to cystic fibrosis.