Duodeno-pancreatic secretions enhance bactericidal activity of antimicrobial drugs.

We have studied the action of various antimicrobial agents in microbiological media and in human duodeno-pancreatic secretions. In the latter medium, clioquinol exhibited a rapid bactericidal effect on both growing and stationary bacteria at concentrations near its MIC. However, it was merely bacteriostatic in microbiological media, even at high concentrations. Phanquinone, chlorquinaldol, and, to a lesser extent, also chloramphenicol and trimethoprim likewise displayed enhanced bactericidal activity in duodeno-pancreatic secretions, but various other antibacterial agents did not. These findings suggest that duodeno-pancreatic secretions contain a factor augmenting the antibacterial activity of a number of drugs.