Combination of tigecycline and N-acetylcysteine reduces biofilm-embedded bacteria on vascular catheters

Abstract

To assess the efficacy of an antibiofilm/antimicrobial agent combination, we incubated catheter segments colonized with one of six studied bacterial organisms in N-acetylcysteine, tigecycline, N-acetylcysteine-tigecycline, or saline. Segments were washed, sonicated, and cultured. N-acetylcysteine-tigecycline significantly decreased all viable biofilm-associated bacteria and was synergistic for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis.

Figures

FIG. 1.

The effect of normal saline control, NAC, tigecycline, and NAC-tigecycline combination on bacterial colony counts of different organisms. Each bar represents mean CFU per centimeter of catheter at different time points along with respective standard errors of the means. The y axis is on a logarithmic scale. The horizontal lines denote the lower limit of detection (LLD) of 10 CFU/cm. *, P < 0.05 compared to the control at the same time. §, P < 0.05 compared to the combination at the same time. (Microsoft Excel was used to create the graph.)