The effect of the selenomorpholine derivatives on the growth of Staphylococcus aureus studied by microcalorimetry

The effect of three kinds of the selenomorpholine derivatives on Staphyloco ccus aureus growth was studied by microcalorimetry. Differences in their ca pacities to inhibit the metabolism of this bacterium were observed. The gro wth rate constant, k, of S. aureus (in log phase) in the presence of the dr ugs decreased with increasing concentrations of the drugs, c. The relations hip of k and c is nearly Linear for selenium compounds. Judged from the rat e constant k and the half-inhibitory concentration, Ic(50), the experimenta l results reveal that the sequence of antibiotic activity of selenomorpholi nes is N-selenomorpholinemethyl succinimide hydrochloride > N-selenomorphol inemethyl succinimide > N-(alpha -selenomorpholinebenzyl) succinimide (C) 2 001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.