Mutagenic activity was found in the urine of 10 patients given therapeutic dosages of metronidazole orally or per vagina. Paper chromatographic separation revealed that mutagenicity in the urine was associated with unmodified metronidazole and at least four of its known urinary metabolites. Activity was also recovered in a region of the chromatogram heretofore not assigned to a metronidazole metabolite.
Urine from patients receiving metronidazole [1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-2-methyl-5-nitromidazole]' orally or per vagina were subjected to paper chromatographic fractionation and examined for anticlostridial activity. Unmodified metronidazole and several metabolites were detected. These findings indicate that the clostridial bioassay may be limited in its applicability to the study of the pharmacodynamics of metronidazole as it does not differentiate between the parent substance and some of its metabolites. Moreover, some of the latter, although they possess antibacterial activity, may not have antiprotozoan activity.Metronidazole was initially described in 1959 as an agent with specific trichomonicidal activity (2). This compound has subsequently proven to be effective in amebiasis and in several other parasitic infections (3,4,6). Recently metronidazole was found to be active in vitro against anaerobic microorganisms, and experience is being accumulated on the use of this agent in anaerobic infections (1,5,10). The metabolism of metronidazole and the basis of its activity are still poorly understood. Recently a bioassay utilizing Clostridium was described as being useful for determining the concentration of metronidazole in body fluids (7). The purpose of this report is to present findings which suggest that this bioassay may be restricted in its usefulness.MATERIALS AND METHODS Urine specimens. The urine specimens were obtained from patients who had received metronidazole (Flagyl, Amersham/Searle, Arlington Heights, Ill.) for a period in excess of 24 h. Firstvoided morning specimens were obtained, sterile filtered, and stored in the cold. Ten specimens were used in this study, eight from patients with vaginitis receiving 250 mg orally three times a day, one from a vaginitis patient treated per vagina 250 mg three times a day, and one from a patient with an amebic abscess receiving 750 mg orally three times a day.Bioassay. For bioassay only recent clinical isolates of C. perfringens were used. There were no differences among the clostridial strains with respect to susceptibility to metronidazole or its metabolites. Blood agar plates were inoculated with approximately 107 microorganisms in 0.1 ml. When the surface of the agar had dried, filter papers impregnated with urine were deposited on the surface of the plates, and these were incubated anaerobically (Gas-Pak system, BBL, Cockeysville, Md.) at 37 C for 18 h, whereupon zones of growth inhibition were measured.Paper chromatography. Quantities (100 gil) of urine were applied across 15 cm of Whatman 3MM paper, and descending chromatography was carried out with 1-butanol saturated with water (86:14). Development was allowed to proceed for a minimum of 45 cm. The chromatogram was then dried and inspected under an ultraviolet lamp, and areas (2 by 2 cm) were excised. These were numbered and placed on the surface of blood agar plates inoculated with C. perfringens. The plates were handled as described above, and zones of growth inhibition were measured. RESULTSAnticlostrid...
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