Induction of morphological changes in bacteria by optochin

Brzin, B.

doi:10.1007/bf02138480

Cited by 2 publications

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“…Brzin (1) reported that optochin hydrochloride caused swelling and elongation of growing Bacterium anitratum. No alteration in morphology was observed with other gram-negative bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, Aerobacter aerogenes, Proteus sp., Salmonella typhi, Klebsiella pneu-moniae, Serratia marcescens, Pseudomonas pyocyanea, and Pasteurella pseudotuberculosis.…”

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confidence: 99%

Alteration in Bacterial Morphology by Optochin and Quinine Hydrochlorides

1969

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Incubation of washed bacterial and ribosomal suspensions with optochin or quinine hydrochloride caused an increase in the turbidity of the suspensions and the appearance of electron-dense cytoplasmic aggregates in the treated cells. These effects were more pronounced with optochin hydrochloride than with quinine hydrochloride, and they did not correlate with the relative sensitivities of different bacteria to growth inhibition by optochin or quinine. Suspensions of washed pneumococci incubated for a short time with high concentrations (1 mg/ ml) of optochin hydrochloride or quinine hydrochloride increase in turbidity (unpublished data). Cellular morphology and chain length, as determined in wet-mount or Gram-strain preparations, were not altered by these treatments. Therefore, to determine whether changes in ultrastructural morphology could be correlated with the increase in turbidity, treated and untreated cells were examined in the electron microscope. Experiments were also done to determine whether the increase in turbidity was specific for the pneumococcus or whether there was a correlation between the phenomenon and the relative sensitivities of different bacteria to growth inhibition by optochin or quinine. This report shows that the increase in turbidity of bacterial suspensions incubated with optochin or quinine hydrochloride is a nonspecific effect of high concentrations of drug, not related to optochin or quinine sensitivity, and is associated with the appearance of electron-dense aggregates in the cytoplasms of treated cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS Organisms. Pseudomonas aeruginosa (1C strain) was obtained from B.

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confidence: 99%