Interactions of antimicrobial combinations in vitro: the relativity of synergism

Interactions of combinations of netilmicin, amikacin, piperacillin, imipenem, azlocillin, ceftazidime or moxalactam were studied in vitro against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus. Microtiter checkerboard technique was compared with standard killing curve method and with killing curves obtained in kinetic in vitro models mimicking single or multiple dosing regimens according to human pharmacokinetics. Antibiotic combinations were classified as antagonistic, indifferent or synergistic. Disagreement between classification by checkerboard and by kinetic model was found in 14 of 33 combinations studied (42%). Further analysis by standard killing curve method demonstrated that synergism or antagonism is a relative, not an absolute feature of drug combinations against given pathogens. Factors contributing to disagreements included the concentrations studied relative to the bacterial sensitivity, the ratio of concentrations of the two drugs tested, the size of the bacterial inoculum and the endpoint of the interaction assessment. Standard in vitro methods do not consider changes of antibiotic concentrations over time during combination therapy. Concentrations studied are defined according to bacterial sensitivity (fractions of MIC). Therefore, they may or may not relate to those at the infected site. The observed discrepancies between standard methods for testing drug interaction and a model which more closely reflects human pharmacokinetics support the argument that standard synergy testing provides incomplete data to reliably design clinical combination therapy.