Issue 1, 2012

Effects of residual antibiotics in groundwater on Salmonella typhimurium: changes in antibiotic resistance, in vivo and in vitro pathogenicity

Abstract

An outbreak-causing strain of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium was exposed to groundwater with residual antibiotics for up to four weeks. Representative concentrations (0.05, 1, and 100 μg L−1) of amoxicillin, tetracycline, and a mixture of several other antibiotics (1 μg L−1 each) were spiked into artificially prepared groundwater (AGW). Antibiotic susceptibility analysis and the virulence response of stressed Salmonella were determined on a weekly basis by using human epithelial cells (HEp2) and soil nematodes (C. elegans). Results have shown that Salmonella typhimurium remains viable for long periods of exposure to antibiotic-supplemented groundwater; however, they failed to cultivate as an indication of a viable but nonculturable state. Prolonged antibiotics exposure did not induce any changes in the antibiotic susceptibility profile of the S. typhimurium strain used in this study. S. typhimurium exposed to 0.05 and 1 μg L−1amoxicillin, and 1 μg L−1tetracycline showed hyper-virulent profiles in both in vitro and in vivo virulence assays with the HEp2 cells and C. elegans respectively, most evident following 2nd and 3rd weeks of exposure.

Graphical abstract: Effects of residual antibiotics in groundwater on Salmonella typhimurium: changes in antibiotic resistance, in vivo and in vitro pathogenicity

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
02 Sep 2011
Accepted
24 Oct 2011
First published
04 Nov 2011

J. Environ. Monit., 2012,14, 41-47

Effects of residual antibiotics in groundwater on Salmonella typhimurium: changes in antibiotic resistance, in vivo and in vitro pathogenicity

B. Z. Haznedaroglu, M. V. Yates, M. F. Maduro and S. L. Walker, J. Environ. Monit., 2012, 14, 41 DOI: 10.1039/C1EM10723B

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Spotlight

Advertisements