Potential effects of amoxycillin/clavulanic acid and ticarcillin/clavulanic acid on human granulocyte activity: a comparative study

The efficacy of an antimicrobial agent in the therapy of infection depends upon the interaction of bacteria, antibiotic and phagocytes. The influence of both ticarcillin/clavulanic acid and amoxycillin/clavulanic acid on the phagocytic and bactericidal activity of human PMNs in vitro was investigated. The results show that clavulanic acid, with its β-lactamase inhibitory properties, potentiated the efficacy of both ticarcillin and amoxycillin, resulting in a significantly increased susceptibility of a β-lactamase producing strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae to phagocytic and microbicidal activities of human PMNs. Overall, amoxycillin/clavulanic acid showed greater enhancement of the killing of K. pneumoniae by human PMNs.