A DISTINCTIVE EFFECT OF CCCP ON THE TRANSFER OF ERYTHROMYCIN TO 1-OCTANOL - A POSSIBLE MODEL IN PROMOTING THE INTRACELLULAR ANTIBIOTIC-ACCUMULATION THROUGH LIPID IN A STAPHYLOCOCCAL CYTOPLASMIC MEMBRANE

Movement of erythromycin (EM), a basic antibiotic solute (pK(a) 8.6), in an aqueous buffer (pH 7.6) at 37 degrees C into 1-octanol was found approximately twofold greater in the presence of another acidic and l ipophilic solute, carbonylcyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP), when compared with the EM-movement in the absence of CCCP. CCCP appears to behave just like a carrier of EM, besides being a well-known inhibito r, such as the uncoupling agent of oxidative phosphorylation. The prob ability is discussed that such an analogous event takes place in the l ipid layers of a bacterial-cell membrane.