The postantibiotic effect of N-chlorotaurine on Staphylococcus aureus. Application in the mouse peritonitis model

This study was designed to investigate the delay of regrowth (postantibioti c effect) in the presence of N-chlorotaurine (NCT), an endogenous active N- chlorine compound, of Staphylococcus aureus, strain Smith diffuse. The low reactivity of NCT enabled clear temporal separation of the postantibiotic a nd killing effect to be defined. Delay of regrowth proved to be dependent b oth on concentration of NCT, and incubation time. The maximum delay was 3 h . Using the model of lethal staphylococcal peritonitis in mice, in-vivo del ay of regrowth of bacteria pretreated with N-chlorotaurine could be demonst rated to correlate with survival. It is concluded that the postantibiotic e ffect of N-chlorotaurine could be an important factor on decreasing virulen ce of bacteria. This effect was observed after relatively short incubation times.