Antibiotic therapy does not alter mitochondrial bioenergetics in lymphocytes of patients with septic shock – A prospective cohort study

Abstract

Antibiotics may trigger alterations in mitochondrial function, which has been explored in cells culture, and in animal model of sepsis. This study sought to evaluate whether antibiotic therapy affects mitochondrial bioenergetics in a 68-patients clinical study. We studied mitochondrial respiratory rates at two time points: the first day of antibiotic administration and three days after. The Δbasal, ΔCI, ΔCII respiration, and ΔBCE respiratory rates were not different between patients administered with polymyxin, vancomycin, amoxicillin-clavulanate, and azithromycin compared to those who were not administered. Specific beta-lactams are associated with specific modifications in mitochondrial respiratory endpoints – patients who used meropenem had higher delta C2 values compared to those who did not (p = 0.03). Patients who used piperacillin-tazobactam had lower delta C1 (p = 0.03) values than those who did not, but higher delta C2 values (p = 0.02). These mitochondrial metabolic signatures in isolated lymphocytes challenges the proposed effects of antibiotics in mitochondrial bioenergetics of cell cultures, but at current status have an uncertain clinical significance.