Mass Spectrometry Analysis of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Treated with Azithromycin

J Am Soc Mass Spectrom. 2015 Jun;26(6):873-7. doi: 10.1007/s13361-015-1101-6. Epub 2015 Mar 24.

Abstract

In microbiology, changes in specialized metabolite production (cell-to-cell signaling metabolites, virulence factors, and natural products) are measured using phenotypic assays. However, advances in mass spectrometry-based techniques including imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) now allow researchers to directly visualize the production of specialized metabolites from microbial colony biofilms. In this study, a combination of IMS and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was used to visualize the effect of the macrolide antibiotic azithromycin (AZM) on colony biofilms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Although previous research suggested that AZM may inhibit cell-to-cell signaling of P. aeruginosa and thereby reduce pathogenicity, we observed no clear decrease in specialized metabolite production.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology*
  • Azithromycin / pharmacology*
  • Biofilms / drug effects*
  • Chromatography, Liquid / methods
  • Humans
  • Pseudomonas Infections / drug therapy
  • Pseudomonas aeruginosa / drug effects*
  • Pseudomonas aeruginosa / physiology*
  • Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization / methods*
  • Tandem Mass Spectrometry / methods

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • Azithromycin