Inhibition of the emergence of ciprofloxacin resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae by the multidrug efflux inhibitor reserpine

Abstract

Recent evidence supports the contribution of a multidrug efflux mechanism to fluoroquinolone resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae. In this paper I show that reserpine, an inhibitor of multidrug transporters in gram- positive bacteria, dramatically suppresses the in vitro emergence of ciprofloxacin-resistant variants of S. pneumoniae, suggesting that the combination of a fluoroquinolone with an inhibitor of multidrug transport may help preserve the efficacy of this class of antibiotics.