Antibiotics and energy delivery to the phagocytosis-associated respiratory burst in chronic hemodialysis patients: a comparison of cefodizime and cotrimoxazole.

Twenty-three stabilized chronic uremic patients with no active or recent infection were treated for 10 days with either cefodizime (5 × 2 g intravenously, n = 10) or cotrimoxazole (960 mg orally b.i.d., n = 8) in order to evaluate the effects on the depressed polymorphonuclear metabolic response to phagocytic challenge; a separate group of 5 patients received placebo. Ex vivo evaluation in whole blood of energy delivery to the phagocytosis-associated respiratory burst activity in response to latex and zymosan challenge was determined by measuring hexose-monophosphate shunt NAD(P)H-oxidase-related glycolytic activity. Cefodizime induced a statistically significant increase in the baseline-depressed glycolytic response for both latex and zymosan challenge, in contrast to cotrimoxazole and placebo. Depressed phagocytosis-related metabolic function in hemodialyzed patients was stimulated by cefodizime in recommended therapeutic doses but not by cotrimoxazole, the effect persisting for at least 2 weeks after the end of treatment.