A class of hydrazones are active against non-replicating <i>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</i>

There is an urgent need for the development of shorter, simpler and more tolerable drugs to treat antibiotic tolerant populations of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We previously identified a series of hydrazones active against M. tuberculosis. We selected five representative compounds for further analysis. All compounds were active against non-replicating M. tuberculosis, with two compounds demonstrating greater activity under hypoxic conditions than aerobic culture. Compounds had bactericidal activity with MBC/MIC of < 4 and demonstrated an inoculum-dependent effect against aerobically replicating bacteria. Bacterial kill kinetics demonstrated a faster rate of kill against non-replicating bacilli generated by nutrient starvation. Compounds had limited activity against other bacterial species. In conclusion, we have demonstrated that hydrazones have some attractive properties in terms of their anti-tubercular activity.