antibiotics Flashcards
what percentage of known antibiotics are clinically useful?
less than 1%
what antibiotics are B-lactam antibiotics?
penicillins, cephalosporins and cephamycins
what fungus produces penicillin?
Penicillium chrysogenum
what accounts for more than half of antibiotic production?
penicillins and cephalosporins
what is the mechanism of action of B-lactam?
they inhibit cell wall synthesis - the transpeptidation reaction.
transpeptidases bind to the beta lactam ring, so the cell wall continues to be formed but is no longer cross linked, so it becomes weak. osmotic differences result in cell lysis
what is the transpeptidation reaction?
it is essential to cell wall synthesis (cross linking).
what contains a 6 member dihydrothiazine ring?
cephalosporins
what type of antibiotics have a broad spectrum of activity?
cephalosporins and some penicillins
what is cephalosporins resistant to?
beta lactamases
list some aminohglycosides
streptomycin, kanamycin, neomycin, gentamicin
how do aminoglycosides work?
they inhibit protein synthesis at the 30s subunit
which type of bacteria do aminoglycosides work against?
gram negative
what are some semi synthetic penicilins?
ampicillin, oxacillin, methacillin
what do macrolides consist of?
large lactone rings connected to sugar
what is an example of a macrolide?
erythromycin
how do macrolides work?
they inhibit protein synthesis at the 50s subunit
what is used in patients ho are allergic to penicillin?
macrolides
which were the first broad spectrum of antibiotics?
tetracylines
what is the basic structure of tetracylines?
a naphthacene ring sysytem
how do tetracylines work?
interfere with the 30s ribosomal subunit function
what area do tetracylines have a wide use in?
veterinary medicine
what are growth factors?
specific substances required by microbes because they cannot synthesis them
what are growth factor analogue?
they block the utilisation of growth factors
what does sulfanilamide do?
blocks the synthesis of folic acid