[A bioluminescent method of determining antibiotic sensitivity of microbial cells in septic blood].

A bioluminescence assay for rapid (5-7 h) determination of susceptibility to antibiotics was applied to samples of septic blood and optimized. The method comprises hemolysis of blood, reduction of osmolarity by adding concentrated nutritive media, and further incubation of the samples in the presence or absence of therapeutic doses of the antibiotic examined. Growth of bacteria is estimated by the level of bacterial ATP in the sample, which is determined by a bioluminescence assay. Hemolysis and further incubation of samples in nutrition media reduced the concentration of nonbacterial ATP to a level that did not interfere with the determination of bacterial ATP. There was a positive correlation between the levels of resistance to antibiotics determined by the bioluminescence assay and standard plate counts.