Overcoming Imidazole Resistance in Escherichia coli

Abstract

We have demonstrated that the high resistance to imidazoles in 60 Escherichia coli strains is overcome by lowering the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) in culture from >3200 to <0.39 μg ml^-1 and, by determining, in contact tests, the disappearance of 10⁴ CFU with 25 μg ml^-1 of imidazoles after 3 min. Although the contact activity was not the same as growth inhibition due to the different target of the drug in the cell structures, we annulled E. coli imidazole resistance in cultural and direct tests by means of the same non-antimicrobial conditions related to outer membrane functions.