Effect of amiloride on the intracellular sodium and potassium content of intact Streptococcus faecalis cells in vitro.

Amiloride at millimolar concentrations caused marked changes in the growth-dependent intracellular balance of Na+ and K+ in Streptococcus faecalis. These results, whether specific to transport processes or resulting from indirect yet unknown mechanisms, constitute the first evidence of an effect of amiloride on bacterial electrolytes.

In vitro antistreptococcal activity of the potassium-sparing diuretics amiloride and triamterene.

The ionophore antimicrobial agents provide evidence that perturbations of the electrolyte balance of bacterial cells exert a growth-inhibitory activity. Several drugs acting on animal cell membranes have also been shown to be active on bacterial cells. In this paper, we report preliminary susceptibility studies showing that the class of potassium-sparing diuretics acting directly on monovalent cation fluxes on animal cells possesses a selective growth-inhibitory activity on hemolytic streptococci.

Inhibition of nonspecific streptococcal coagglutination reactions.

The reliability of latex coagglutination testing for the serological grouping of hemolytic streptococci is limited by the relatively high incidence of false-positive reactions. Pretreatment of streptococcal suspensions with antisera for the various groups that show clumping gives a specific inhibition of the latex agglutination with the true group, whereas the other groups continue to agglutinate aspecifically. The method is rapid and easy to perform, allows the exact grouping of those streptococci giving aspecific reactions, and is also a useful confirmatory test with monoreactive strains.