Rapid, Label-Free Prediction of Antibiotic Resistance in Salmonella typhimurium by Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy

The rapid identification of bacterial antibiotic susceptibility is pivotal to the rational administration of antibacterial drugs. In this study, cefotaxime (CTX)-derived resistance in Salmonella typhimurium (abbr. CTX(r)-S. typhimurium) during 3 months of exposure was rapidly recorded using a portable Raman spectrometer. The molecular changes that occurred in the drug-resistant strains were sensitively monitored in whole cells by label-free surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Various degrees of resistant strains could be accurately discriminated by applying multivariate statistical analyses to bacterial SERS profiles. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values showed a positive linear correlation with the relative Raman intensities of I(990)/I(1348), and the R(2) reached 0.9962. The SERS results were consistent with the data obtained by MIC assays, mutant prevention concentration (MPC) determinations, and Kirby-Bauer antibiotic susceptibility tests (K-B tests). This preliminary proof-of-concept study indicates the high potential of the SERS method to supplement the time-consuming conventional method and help alleviate the challenges of antibiotic resistance in clinical therapy.