Fig 3.
Influence of time on the rate and extent of activity of antibiotics against extracellular (broth; left panels) and intracellular (THP-1cells; right panels) P. aeruginosa PAO1 upon incubation at fixed extracellular concentrations corresponding to their MICs in broth (top) and to concentrations (total drug) corresponding to their Cmax observed in humans after the administration of conventional doses (bottom). The ordinate shows the change in the number of CFU (log scale) per milliliter for extracellular bacteria or per milligram of cell protein for intracellular bacteria. The solid horizontal line corresponds to a bacteriostatic effect (no change from the initial inoculum), and the dotted horizontal line shows the limit of detection (−4.5-log CFU decrease). Values are means ± standard deviations (n = 3); when not visible, error bars are smaller than the symbols. GEN, gentamicin; MEM, meropenem; CIP, ciprofloxacin; CST, colistin.