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. 1975 Jul;8(1):34–37. doi: 10.1128/aac.8.1.34

Detection of Agents That Alter the Bacterial Cell Surface

Inder Jit Sud a,1, David S Feingold a,1
PMCID: PMC429256  PMID: 169728

Abstract

Proteus mirabilis is not killed by polymyxin B, normal serum, or sodium deoxycholate. Exposure to polymyxin B renders the cells susceptible to killing by the latter two agents. The data suggest that this synergism is due to polymyxin B-induced surface changes. The results point out an inadequacy of existing methods of screening for antibiotics; they fail to detect agents which, while showing no in vitro effect on growth, may alter a resistant organism so that it becomes more susceptible to other antimicrobials or host defense mechanisms. A method is described which can be used to detect such cell surface-modifying agents.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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