Ex 1: Principles 1-4 Biological basis for antibacterial action Flashcards
What is a chemotheraputic agent?
chemical compounds used to treat disease
What is an antimicrobial?
destroy pathogenic microbes or
inhibit their growth within host
What is an antibiotic?
- destroy or inhibit bacteria
- a class of chemotherapeutic agents
What are most antibiotics made of?
made of microbial products or their derivatives
What is selective toxicity?
ability of drug to kill or inhibit pathogen while damaging host as little as possible
What is the therapeutic dose?
drug level required for clinical treatment
What is the toxic dose?
drug level at which drug becomes too toxic for patient
What is the therapeutic index?
ratio of toxic dose to therapeutic dose
What do bacteriocidal antibiotics do?
kill bacteria
What do bacteriostatic antibiotics do?
inhibit growth of bacteria
What do broad-spectrum antibiotics do?
attack many different bacteria (Gram + and Gram -)
What do narrow-spectrum antibiotics do?
attack only a few different bacteria
What is the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC)?
lowest concentration of drug that inhibits growth of pathogen
What is the minimal bacteriocidal concentration (MBC)?
lowest concentration of drug that kills pathogen
What are the two ways to determine the level of antimicrobial activity?
– minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC)
– minimal bacteriocidal concentration (MBC)
What are the two techniques routinely used to determine MIC and MBC?
- dilution susceptibility tests
- disk diffusion test
What is the dilution susceptibility test?
inoculating media containing different concentrations of drug
– broth or agar with lowest concentration showing no
growth is MIC
* broth from which microbe cannot be recovered is MBC
What is the disk diffusion test?
- disks impregnated with specific drugs are placed on agar plates inoculated with test microbe
- drug diffuses from disk into agar, establishing concentration gradient
- observe clear zones (no growth) around disks
What is the kirby-bauer method?
- standardized method for carrying out disk diffusion test
- sensitivity and resistance determined using tables that relate zone diameter to degree of microbial resistance
- table values plotted and used to determine if concentration of drug reached in body will be effective
What are the zone diameters based on for disk diffusion tests?
based on studies to establish the levels a drug can safely reach in the human body
concentration of drug at infection site must be _______ MIC to be effective
> greater than
What are factors that influence the effectivenss of antimicrobial drugs?
- ability of drug to reach site of infection
- ability of drug to reach concentrations in body that exceed MIC of pathogen
- susceptibility of pathogen to drug
What factors affect the ability of drug to reach site of infection?
- mode of administration
– oral
– topical
– parenteral routes - drug can be excluded by blood clots or necrotic tissue
What factors influence the ability of the drug to reach concentrations above MIC?
- amount administered
- route of administration
- speed of uptake
- rate of clearance (elimination) from body
What are the main mechanisms of action of antimicrobial agents?
can impact pathogen by targeting some function necessary for its reproduction or survival
- disrupt bacterial cell wall
- inhibit protein synthesis
- inhibit nucleic acid synthesis
- target folic acid pathways
What are the cateogories of antimicrobial agents that disrupt bacterial cell walls?
B-lactams
Glycopeptides
Polypeptides
Other (cycloserine, isoniazid & ethionamide, ethambutol)
What are the antimicrobial agents in the B-lactams group?
penicillins
cephalosporins
carbapenems & monobactams
(+ b-lactamase inhibitors)
What are the antimicrobial agents in the glycoprotein group?
vancomycin & teichoplanin
What are the antimicrobial agents in the polyprotein group?
bacitracin & polymixins
What are the steps to peptidoglycan synthesis?
– peptidoglycan repeat unit forms in
cytoplasm
* involves use of uridine diphosphate (UDP) as a carrier
– then transported across membrane by bactoprenol (“lipid”)
– attached to growing peptidoglycan chain
– cross-links formed by transpeptidation