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The bacteria isolated from the diseased fish
were identified as belonging to the genera of Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Shigella and Vibrio were found to be highly sensitive to these compounds. However, other bacteria
isolated were moderately sensitive. The noteworthy finding that emerged from this study
was the susceptibility of Pseudomonas spp. towards these drugs where even common
antibiotics are almost always ineffective.
Drugs have been pharmacologically categorized as antihistamines,
analgesics, antihypertensives, neuroleptics, psychotropics, local anaesthetics,
anti-inflammatory agents and so on. Such a classification has been drawn on one of their apparently
major and predominant functions based on which it is marketed and is in therapeutic use
for long. Nevertheless, often, a drug is found to possess multiple activities, some of
which may be more significant than their originally described one. Hence a redescription
of such drugs is possible e.g., prontosil, a dye, was later known for its promising
antibacterial action and eventually opened the vista for sulphonamides. Likewise, the
traditional analgesic aspirin is now more often prescribed as an anticoagulant. The same is true
for metronidazole and quinine. Thus, the very development of chemotheraupeutic
agents, as well as their subsequent evolution, repeatedly show multiplicity of functions to be
a rule than an exception.
Since it was apprehended that some of these drugs may be found to
possess antibacterial activity as well, as systematic study on many of these potentially
active drugs was undertaken by Dastidar and Chakrabarty in Calcutta since 1976 (Dastidar et al., 1976, 1988, 1995, 2003 and Chakrabarty et al., 1989), Kristiansen (1990) at Denmark
and Molnar et al. (1976) at Szeged, Hungary. These studies suggested that
antihistaminic drugs like ambodryl, benadryl, methdilazine and chlorpromazine are powerful
psychotropic drugs exhibited distinct antibacterial activities (Molnar et al., 1976 and Kristiansen, 1990).
The phenothiazines (tricyclic ring compounds) have been reported to
possess multidimensional activities which ranged from modulation of function of
different components of nervous system to antimicrobial and antiplasmid activity. The
present study is intended to explore the potentiality of some such drugs, namely,
promethazinean antihistamine, trifluoperazinean antipsychotic, trimeprazine an analgesic
in inhibiting several pathogenic gm +ve and gm - ve bacteria isolated from infected
fish specimens obtained from the wetlands. |
