Figure 8.
Efficacy of meropenem in leukopenic mice challenged with P. aeruginosa UNC-D. Cy-treated BALB/c mice (n = 8) were challenged with 105.4 CFU of UNC-D and mock treated (PBS, black) or treated with meropenem beginning 3 h post-infection with 1750 (violet), 1500 (blue), 1250 (green) or 1000 (red) mg/kg/day and (A) monitored for survival. MTD indicated in parenthesis; U = undefined. At the time of euthanasia, tissues were harvest and bacteria were enumerated from the (B) lungs and (C) spleen. Dotted line represents the limit of detection. (D) Severity of lung pathology at the time of euthanasia. Clinical chemistries were performed on blood to evaluate (E) ALT or (F) AST markers of liver damage, with baseline enzyme values indicated by a horizontal dashed line. (B–F) Solid circles represent animals that survived the entire course of infection. Open circles represent moribund animals that were euthanized. X represents animals that succumbed to infection and tissues were not harvested. Bar represents the mean. (One-way ANOVA with Tukey: * = P < 0.05; ** = P < 0.01; *** = P < 0.001). Data are representative of two independent experiments.