Inoculum Effects of Ceftobiprole, Daptomycin, Linezolid, and Vancomycin with Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae at Inocula of 105and 107CFU Injected into Opposite Thighs of Neutropenic Mice

Abstract

ABSTRACTReduced bactericidal efficacy at a high inoculum is known as the inoculum effect (IE). We used neutropenic mice to compare the IEs of ceftobiprole (CFB), daptomycin (DAP), linezolid (LZD), and vancomycin (VAN) against 6 to 9 strains ofStaphylococcus aureusand 4 strains ofStreptococcus pneumoniaeat 2 inocula in opposite thighs of the same mice. Neutropenic mice had 104.5to 105.7CFU/thigh (low inoculum [LI]) in one thigh and 106.4to 107.2CFU/thigh (high inoculum [HI]) in the opposite thigh when treated for 24 h with subcutaneous (s.c.) doses every 12 h of DAP at 0.024 to 100 mg/kg of body weight and LZD at 0.313 to 320 mg/kg and s.c. doses every 6 h of CFB at 0.003 to 160 mg/kg and VAN at 0.049 to 800 mg/kg. Dose-response data were analyzed by a maximum effect (Emax) model using nonlinear regression. Static doses for each drug and at each inoculum were calculated, and the difference between HI and LI (IE index) gave the magnitude of IE for each drug-organism combination. Mean (range) IE indexes ofS. aureuswere 2.9 (1.7 to 4.6) for CFB, 4.1 (2.6 to 9.3) for DAP, 4.6 (1.7 to 7.1) for LZD, and 10.1 (6.3 to 20.3) for VAN. InS. pneumoniae, the IE indexes were 2.5 (1.3 to 3.3) for CFB, 2.0 (1.6 to 2.8) for DAP, 1.9 (1.7 to 2.2) for LZD, and 1.5 (0.8 to 3.2) for VAN; these values were similar for all drugs. InS. aureus, the IE was much larger with VAN than with CFB, DAM, and LZD (P< 0.05). Anin vivotime course of vancomycin activity showed initiation of killing at 4- to 16-fold-higher doses at HI than at LI despite similar initial growth of controls.