Biphasic toxicodynamic features of some antimicrobial agents on microbial growth: a dynamic mathematical model and its implications on hormesis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In the present work, we describe a group of anomalous dose-response (DR) profiles and develop a dynamic model that is able to explain them. Responses were obtained from conventional assays of three antimicrobial agents (nisin, pediocin and phenol) against two microorganisms (Carnobacterium piscicola and Leuconostoc mesenteroides).

Results

Some of these anomalous profiles show biphasic trends which are usually attributed to hormetic responses. But they can also be explained as the result of the time-course of the response from a microbial population with a bimodal distribution of sensitivity to an effector, and there is evidence suggesting this last origin. In light of interest in the hormetic phenomenology and the possibility of confusing it with other phenomena,

SUBMITTER: Murado MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2936355 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature