Diffusion of aminoglycoside antibiotics across the outer membrane of Escherichia coli

Abstract

The diffusion of aminoglycoside antibiotics (gentamicin, kanamycin, streptomycin, fradiomycin, lividomycin, and mannosylparomomycin) through porin pores was examined in vitro by the liposome swelling technique, using vesicle membranes reconstituted from phospholipids and purified porin trimers. Results showed that aminoglycoside antibiotics diffuse through porin-pores very efficiently, as rapidly as hexoses and disaccharides, despite the fact that the molecular weights of the aminoglycosides used were higher than or close to the exclusion limit of porin pores. The susceptibility to aminoglycoside antibiotics of mutant strains producing 3 to 4% of porin was not significantly different from that of a strain producing a wild-type quantity of porin. These results were interpreted to mean that aminoglycoside antibiotics diffuse through porin-pores very efficiently. Therefore, the diffusion of these drugs through the mutant outer membranes producing 3 to 4% of porin is not a rate-limiting step for aminoglycoside diffusion and its action.