DEVELOPMENT OF A HIGHLY POTENT ANTIMICROBIAL AGENT FROM THE GROUP OF SYMPATHOMIMETIC DRUGS

摘要

Dopamine, a sympathomimetic drug, was tested both in vitro and in vivo for possible antibacterial activity. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MTC) of dopamine was determined both by agar and broth dilution methods against 302 strains of bacterial isolates from Gram positive and Gram negative genera. The antibacterial action of the drug was further tested in an animal model. Dopamine was seen to possess powerful inhibitory action (50-200 p.g/ml) against most test bacteria in vitro studies. It was bacteriostatic in nature. The in vivo results were highly significant according to chisquare test; the drug offered significant protection (p0.001) to mice challenged with a virulent strain of Salmonella typhimurium (NCTC 74) at concentrations of 15, 30 and 60 pg/mouse.