Bactericidal effect of amoxicillin on Helicobacter pylori in an in vitro model using epithelial cells

The treatment of Helicobacter pylori with antimicrobial agents has largely been ineffective, and susceptibility results are in disagreement with those obtained by standard in vitro testing. The bactericidal effect of amoxicillin was tested in an in vitro model by using sessile bacteria attached to HEp-2 cells; this bactericidal effect was compared with that against planktonic bacteria. Viable cell counts were performed by standard procedures after 1, 6, and 24 h of contact with the antibiotic at different concentrations. A bactericidal effect (99.9% killing) was observed against sessile bacteria after 24 h with concentrations of only 10, 1, and 0.1 mg/liter, while against planktonic bacteria it was also noted at concentrations of 0.01 and 0.001 mg/liter, and the effect was observed after 6 h with the three highest concentrations. When the results for five strains were studied by analysis of variance at 6 and 24 h, the main variable was the antibiotic concentration, followed by the culture conditions, e.g., planktonic or sessile bacteria, the strain tested, and the time of contact. A decreased pH of 5.4 did not affect the action of amoxicillin. The bactericidal effect of the combination of amoxicillin and metronidazole was additive against sessile H. pylori.