The frequency of in-vitro resistance development to fluoroquinolones and the use of a murine pyelonephritis model to demonstrate selection of resistance in vivo.

The frequency of development of resistance to the fluoroquinolones in vitro was generally low with Escherichia coli (in the order of 10(-7) to less than 10(-9) and high with Pseudomonas aeruginosa (in the order of 10(-5) to 10(-7)). Susceptibility to the fluoroquinolones also decreased after serial transfer in increasing concentrations of the drug. Although the MICs for the resistant E. coli variants were higher than that of the parent organism, they were still susceptible to achievable serum concentrations of all the quinolones except nalidixic acid. On the other hand some of the P. aeruginosa variants selected for resistance were resistant to achievable serum concentrations of all the quinolones. When E. coli pyelonephritis in mice was treated with the fluoroquinolones, difloxacin, A-56620, and ciprofloxacin were more effective than norfloxacin and nalidixic acid in lowering viable bacterial counts in the kidneys. The susceptibility of E. coli isolated from kidneys of mice treated with the quinolones was the same as that of the parent strain. When P. aeruginosa pyelonephritis in mice was treated with the fluoroquinolones an initial reduction in the cell count was seen, followed by an increase in the number of resistant variants. The resistant variants differed in their colony morphology and cell envelope proteins. The levels of resistance for the P. aeruginosa variants ranged from a two- to a 64-fold increase in the MIC.