Chapter 10: Antimicrobial Medications: Part 1 Flashcards
Primary sites of action of Antimicrobial Drugs on Bacterial Cells
Protein synthesis Cell wall synthesis Nucleic acid synthesis Cell membrane synthesis Folic acid synthesis in the cytoplasm
What are sulfonamides?
Competitive inhibitor of metabolic processes, look similar to intermediates used during folic acid synthesis
Selective toxicity
A drug is more toxic to the microbe than it is to animals
What does the bacterial cell wall contain that makes it unique in construction?
Peptidoglycan
Do antimicrobials that interfere with the synthesis of a cell wall interfere with a eukaryotic cell?
No!!
Do cell wall inhibitors have a high or low therapeutic index?
High; low toxicity with high effectiveness
Cell wall inhibitors include what drugs?
- Beta lactic drugs
- Vancomycin
- Bacitracin
What is bacitracin usually used for?
Usually only as a topical medication
What are the alternating molecules that make up the cell wall?
Nam and nag molecules
Penicillins and cephalosporins are part of what group of drugs?
Beta lactams
What does penicillin / cephalosporin do?
Competitively inhibits functions of penicillin binding protein (by binding directly to the PBP) which inhibits the peptide bridge formation between glycan molecules
What does the PBP do?
Bacteria use it to build peptidoglycan, enzyme used to make the bonds between the sugars and between the proteins
Are penicillins and cephalosporins more effective against gram, positive or gram negative bacteria?
They vary in spectrum; some are more active against gram positive while others are more active against gram negative
How do some organisms resist the effects of penicillins and cephalosporins?
Through production of the Beta lactamase enzyme, which breaks the beta lactam ring, MRSA does this!
What part of the beta lactam ring actually interacts with and stops the synthesis of the cell wall?
The Beta-lactam “ring”
