Bacterial cystitis symptomatology is described by the symptoms of frequency, urgency and/or dysuria that also overlap with symptoms of interstitial cystitis and other urological diseases to complicate the diagnosis [
35]. A history of two or more episodes of bacterial cystitis is an independent risk factor [
11,
25] for recurrent cystitis, defined as ≥2 episodes in 6 months or ≥3 in a year. Compared to men, higher incidence of cystitis in women is generally linked to their shorter urethra and easier entry of microbes from adjacent cavities of vagina and anus [
53]. It is also likely that periodic shedding of urothelium, exclusively in female mammalian bladder [
54,
55,
56] may shed light on the higher incidence of cystitis in women [
35] accompanying lower incidence of urothelial carcinoma [
57].
Cystitis is responsible for more non-elective hospital admissions in multiple sclerosis than any of its plethora of impairments [
58]. Imaging based differentiation of upper and lower UTI (cystitis) is critical before initiating aggressive treatment reserved for complicated cystitis. The need for translational research to understand the pathogenesis of human cystitis cannot be overstated [
59] considering the fact that critical elements of cystitis pathogenesis identified in mouse models, which are the intracellular bacterial colonies in the superficial umbrella cells of infected mice [
12,
60] could not be reproduced in the pig model of acute cystitis [
61]. Given that pigs can weigh as much as humans and human bladder wall is as thick as that of pig bladder [
62], human pathogenesis of cystitis is more likely to track the pathogenesis in the pig model [
61].
As the microbiome of the bladder is influenced by the microbiome of adjacent organs [
63,
64], it is plausible that symbionts of other organs may become opportunist uropathogens, hallmarked by their attachment to umbrella cells (
Figure 1) and possession of specific virulence factors and the secretion of proteolytic enzymes [
65], biofilm production [
66] to survive in urine, quorum-sensing community support networks, short life spans and rapid proliferation of mutant colonies with vertical and horizontal transmission [
1] of new genetic features through plasmid transfer, which helped identify DNA as the genetic material[
67]. The highest prevalence of uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) informed its selection for inoculation of pig bladder to model human cystitis, where the ingress of UPEC into umbrella cells was noted near tight junctions (
Figure 1) [
61].
4.1. SWOT of Oral Antimicrobial Therapy (OAT) for UTI
The primary
strengths of OAT are simplicity and convenience, as self-medication does not burden doctors or nurses with having to administer the treatments. The primary
weaknesses of OAT are inter-individual variability in clinical outcomes and AMR owing to inter-individual variability in pharmacokinetics [
17] of OAT delaying the arrival of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) in urine. MIC is the lowest antimicrobial concentration required to prevent the visible growth of the test strain of a microbe after a definite incubation period under strictly controlled
in vitro conditions [
68].
The antimicrobial effect of OAT takes effect only after the absorbed dose fraction gets filtered from plasma by the kidneys into urine (
Figure 2). The variability in the pharmacokinetics of OAT stem from the variable absorption from the gut [
69,
70], first pass metabolism in liver, and systemic distribution followed by renal excretion (
Figure 2) for an intermittent ureteric delivery of OAT into urine. Since the bladder [
71] receives only 10% of the cardiac output delivered by the renal arteries to kidneys [
72,
73], the exposure of bladder mucosa to circulating drug levels[
74] is minimal compared to the exposure of the luminal side to the urine drug levels(
Figure 2). For all intents and purposes, bladder exposure to circulating OAT (
Figure 3) leaves a time window of opportunity for invading microbes to activate AMR for the following reasons:
- A.
The variability in initial drug concentration due to variable absorption from gut and variability in urine in-flow rate of 0.3-15mL/min (~50x difference) [
33]
- B.
The antecedent intravesical antimicrobial-free urine volume [
75] that can range from <10mL to potentially well over a liter (>100x difference) [
76].
- C.
The urinary pH physiological range of 4.4-9.9, a log scale representing >300,000fold difference in acidity/alkalinity, a determinant of the aqueous solubility of excreted drugs [
69] and their reabsorption by the bladder [
77].
A simple multiplication of the noted ranges; >50x >100x >300,000x incriminates potential differences in the physical and physicochemical characteristics of urine in stark contrast to the homeostasis of plasma volume and pH for optimal functioning of cells. The plot depicted below is projected from published human urine and plasma levels of nitrofurantoin in healthy human volunteers after oral dosing [
69], which must be read with the following caveats: while there can be fixed sampling time points for plasma, there was no fixed sampling of urine after oral dosing. Based on frequent voiding of cystitis patients, one can infer that concentration build-up noted in healthy volunteers voiding less frequently (
Figure 2) may not materialize in cystitis patients. Moreover, malaise and dehydration secondary to cystitis will alter the urine flow rate, pharmacokinetic parameters, and renal toxicity of OAT.
Figure 2.
Panel A - Oral antimicrobial treatment (OAT) reaches uropathogens infecting the bladder urothelium after the absorbed dose fraction is delivered to the kidneys via renal arteries and OAT gets excreted into urine. As a result, there is an initial mismatch between the initial urine concentration of OAT and the number of microbes infecting the urothelium. Panel B- Projected plots for serum and urine levels after a single dose of OAT (nitrofurantoin). Time 0 is the time of drug administration and the delay in reaching urinary MIC leaves a window of opportunity for the activation of AMR genes. Then the resistant descendants selected by the Darwinian principle proliferate exponentially. Please note the log-scale of the y-axis.
Figure 2.
Panel A - Oral antimicrobial treatment (OAT) reaches uropathogens infecting the bladder urothelium after the absorbed dose fraction is delivered to the kidneys via renal arteries and OAT gets excreted into urine. As a result, there is an initial mismatch between the initial urine concentration of OAT and the number of microbes infecting the urothelium. Panel B- Projected plots for serum and urine levels after a single dose of OAT (nitrofurantoin). Time 0 is the time of drug administration and the delay in reaching urinary MIC leaves a window of opportunity for the activation of AMR genes. Then the resistant descendants selected by the Darwinian principle proliferate exponentially. Please note the log-scale of the y-axis.
Furthermore, the pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic modelling of OAT [
78] found that drug exposure that suppresses the emergence of AMR in Gram-negative bacteria varies for each drug molecule. Modeling projects that the target plasma concentration should be 4-1000-fold higher than MIC to prevent AMR, which is however unfeasible owing to the toxicity and lower therapeutic index of OAT. If one were to analyze combat of OAT with uropathogens through a military lens, then the use of overwhelming force on first contact with the adversary (microbes) is more likely to extinguish any hope of resurgence (gain of AMR) [
79]. Accordingly, urine concentration of OAT at first contact with the microbial colonies [
4,
5] infecting the urothelium is a crucial determinant in the emergence of a drug-resistant strain that proliferates exponentially to survive even subsequently higher drug concentration in urine (
Figure 2). Therefore, the duration (
Figure 3) between the arrival of the first drug molecule in urine and urinary MIC is a proverbial “window of
opportunity” for microbes to activate latent AMR genes [
3,
80] or shelter from OAT by entering into leaky tight junctions of inflamed urothelium[
41,
61] or exfoliated vesicles. Uropathogens can adapt to OAT through a panoply of pathways [
6] including negative tropism, acceleration of mutations [
81], sheltering under biofilm, expulsion of OAT by membrane pumps. Biodiversity suggests there may be other mechanisms as well [
81]. Thus, delay in urinary MIC of OAT in the wake of initial conditions is a
threat for the emergence and prevalence of AMR.
4.1.1. Delay and variability in urinary MIC
As depicted in the plots (
Figure 2 B), even though the peak urine concentration C
max of oral nitrofurantoin is twenty-five-fold higher than in plasma C
max, the initial delay in reaching urine MIC leaves a window of opportunity (
Figure 3) for the activation of AMR genes to survive subsequent higher concentration of nitrofurantoin. Nitrofurantoin reaches its peak serum concentration (C
max) in the time range of 2-24 hours (T
max ) after oral dosing [
69] and only 20-25% of an absorbed dose of nitrofurantoin is ultimately excreted in urine [
69] as opposed to 40-60% for sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim [
63,
70].
The figure above vividly illustrates with a mirage graph that OAT being dripped into urine of variable volumes at variable pH from kidneys to bladder may sufficiently facilitate the evasive actions of microbes to gain AMR. The graph is referred to as “mirage” because data points are unknowable and indeterminable for real-world treatment. Furthermore, MIC of OAT is sensitive to pH and the wide range of potential intravesical acidity/alkalinity makes it untenable to extrapolate
in vitro MIC to the bladder. It is noteworthy that laboratory-based efficacy testing of MIC for cystitis [
82] does not account for the variability in urine flow.
Figure 3.
Repeat dosing of OAT is projected to engender time dependent variability in antibiotic concentration in urine with respect to MIC and leave a window of opportunity for activation of AMR.
Figure 3.
Repeat dosing of OAT is projected to engender time dependent variability in antibiotic concentration in urine with respect to MIC and leave a window of opportunity for activation of AMR.
4.1.2. Why urine levels are higher than plasma levels of OAT?
Given that only 20-25% of the absorbed dose of nitrofurantoin is ultimately excreted in urine [
69], the remainder of the absorbed dose (100-20= 80%) should have generated relatively higher plasma levels. Understanding of this anomaly requires a deep dive into pharmacokinetics to understand the counter-intuitive concept of volume of distribution (Vd), which is a theoretical volume for the distribution for any drug [
77]. Accordingly, 75-80% of absorbed dose of nitrofurantoin (fraction not excreted in urine) is diluted on 0.46Liters/kg [
83] of body weight or 32.2Liters for a 70kg adult to generate <1mg/L plasma concentration whereas 20-25% of absorbed dose is diluted in just 1.5L of 24h urine to generate >10mg/L (
Figure 2). Simply stated, the bigger denominator for 75-80% dose leads to 25-fold lower plasma levels than the urine levels of nitrofurantoin.
The variability in the time taken to reach peak urinary concentration (Tmax ) of OAT results from highly variable physiological and pharmacokinetic activities preceding the entry of OAT into urine, which are:
- A.
Inter-individual differences in metabolism [
84],
- B.
Fluid and electrolyte consumption, e.g., dietary restriction of sodium significantly increases 24h voided urine volume [
39].
- C.
Inter-individual pharmacokinetic differences [
78]
The study on healthy humans [
69] implicated the role of factors listed above in the inter-individual variability in the mean value of urine T
max, which is delayed by 2.5 hours relative to the plasma T
max. The variability in the urine T
max contributes to the variability in the emergence of AMR [
6]. Compared to humans, it can be difficult to get urine samples “on demand” from dogs [
85] and that sampling flaw may have generated the distorted inference that urinary T
max occurs an hour earlier than plasma T
max and former ranges from 0 to 8h in healthy beagles upon repeat oral dosing of nitrofurantoin every 8h [
85].