Abstract
Summary
Polyanionic detergents, the most widely used of which is sodium poly-anethol sulfonate (SPS), inhibit polymor-phonuclear leukocyte, complement, lyso-zyme, and antibiotic activity. SPS has been utilized for years in the culture of blood for bacterial pathogens. Utilizing an agarose gel double diffusion system it was ascertained that polyanionic detergents, as represented by SPS, sodium lauryl sulfate, and disodium 4-dodecylated oxydibenzene-sulfonate, inactivate antibiotics by combining directly with them to form a precipitate. Only the positively charged aminoglycoside and poly-myxin classes of antibiotics were affected. Neither nonionic nor cationic detergents interacted with aminoglycoside antibiotics. It would appear that a polymer is formed with both the polyanionic detergent and antibiotic each at least divalent. The reaction is independant of and does not interfere with bacterial growth.
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