Isothermal microcalorimetry (IMC) calscreener: automated peculiarities of antimicrobial therapy and metabolism depth of multidrug resistant bacteria

Abstract

Abstract Background The global development of innovative antimicrobial drugs and drug design techniques has been necessitated by the persistent increase of multidrug resistant infections. Regardless of advances in technology for detecting pathogenic bacteria and their resistance genes (DNA-based assays), most bacteriological studies of infections still use conventional cultural techniques and susceptibility testing as reference standards. Commonly used conventional assays such as the disc diffusion test and broth micro-dilution have been effective in defining pathogen susceptibility and determining the minimum inhibitory concentration of antimicrobial agents. However, they are still prone to error and time consuming, hence, not sufficient in the face of the urgent need for answers to sporadic worldwide disease maladies. Main body In this review, we describe a developing but promising method for gauging/measuring the amount of energy released when a cell is actively metabolizing, which may then be used to calculate the bacterial cell's growth rate. The isothermal microcalorimetry (IMC) calscreener translate heat production of cellular metabolism which is pertinent to the operation of all biological life in demonstrating a more advanced technique for drug design and discovery, especially in the area of pathogen-specific chemotherapy. Conclusion The IMC calscreener technology is sacrosanct in establishing the heat levels in microwatt to read the metabolic kinematics of biological specimens with emphasis on medically-relevant bacteria within a closed scheme. The application of this technology also looks promising in antimicrobial chemotherapy and metal recovery.

Keywords

• Multidrug resistant (MDR) infections
• Disc diffusion test (DDT)
• Broth micro-dilution (BMD)
• IMC calscreener
• Heat production
• Metabolism