[Effect of treatment with clindamycin, erythromycin, rifamycin or gentamicin on the ingestion capacity of peritoneal macrophages in mice].

The effect of treatment with clindamycin, erythromycin, rifamycin and gentamicin on the ingestion capacity of the mouse peritoneal macrophage was studied. Female six-eight week old OF1 mice were treated with minimum and maximum doses clinically used for the different antibiotics (15 and 40 mg/kg/day of clindamycin, 15 and 57.5 mg/kg/day of erythromycin, 10 and 30 mg/kg/day of rifamycin, 3 and 6 mg/kg/day of gentamicin). Two treatment periods of 72 hours and one week were assayed for each antibiotic-dose combination. Antibiotic was administered twice daily, every twelve hours. Twelve hours after the last dose was given, macrophages were obtained through peritoneal lavage and a kinetic study of Candida albicans blastospore ingestion was made. One week treatment with 15 mg/kg/day and 72 hours treatment with 57.5 mg/kg/day of erythromycin produced a significant ingestion enhancement whereas one week treatment with 57.5 mg/kg/day of erythromycin and all treatments with gentamicin gave rise to an ingestion depression. 72 hours treatment with 15 and 40 mg/kg/day and one week treatment with 15 mg/kg/day of clindamycin, 15 mg/kg/day of erythromycin and 10 and 30 mg/kg/day of rifamycin did not modify macrophage ingestion capacity. One week treatment with 40 mg/kg/day of clindamycin and 10 and 30 mg/kg/day of rifamycin gave rise to an acceleration of the ingestion process.