Antimicrobial Drugs Flashcards
Define drugs
Chemicals that affect physiology in any manner
Define chemotherapeutic agents
Drugs that act against diseases
Define antimicrobials
Drugs used for treating infections
What is chemotherapy?
The use of chemicals to selectively kill pathogens while having little or no effect on the patient
Which microbiologist is generally credited with proposing the term chemotherapy?
Paul Ehrlich
What was the name of the chemotherapeutic agent that Paul Ehrilch developed?
Magic bullet - arsenic containing compound
What disease did the ‘magic bullet’ treat?
Syphilis (salvarsan)
Which scientist is credited with reporting the antimicrobial action of penicillin secreted from Penicillium mold?
Alexander Fleming
Explain why Salvarsan and penicillin were not the first antimicrobial drugs to be widely used (2)
- Arsenic compounds are toxic to humans
- Penicillin was not made available in large enough quantities until the 1940s
What was the name of the first practical antimicrobial used to treat a wide array of bacterial infections?
Sulfanilamide
Name the bacteriologist that discovered the sulfanilamide
Gerhard Domagk
Which scientist focused on soil-dwelling bacteria?
Selman Waksman
What was the most notable species of soil-dwelling bacteria discovered by Selman Waksman?
Streptomyces
Define antibiotic
Antimicrobial agents that are produced naturally by an organism
Which scientist originally coined the term “antibiotic”?
Selman Waksman
Chemically altered antibiotics are known as ______
Semi-synthetics
Antimicrobials that are completely synthesized in a laboratory are known as ______
Synthetics
Explain the concept of selective toxicity
An effective microbial agent must be more toxic to a pathogen than to a host
How is selective toxicity possible?
Differences in the structure between the pathogen and host
Why are there far more antibacterial drugs than any other kinds of antimicrobials?
Greatest number and diversity
Why are antiviral drugs especially limited?
They are likely toxic to the host
Name 5 different targets or mechanisms of action by which antimicrobial drugs can be categorized
- Cell wall synthesis
- Cytoplasmic synthesis
- DNA / RNA synthesis
- Protein synthesis
- Metabolism
How are the sugars N-acetylglucosamine (NAG) and N-acetylmuramic acid (NAM) positioned relative to each other?
Cross-linked by short peptide chains extending between NAM subunits
What is the fundamental ‘subunit’ or ‘building block’ of peptidoglycan?
Amino acid sugars and tetrapeptides
______ polymerize NAG - NAM subunits
Transglycosylases
______ cross-link short peptide chains of neighboring NAM molecules
Transpeptidases
What are beta-lactams?
Antimicrobials that prevent cross-linking of NAM subunits
What term is used to refer to beta-lactam functional portions?
Beta-lactam rings