Penicillin and Magic Bullets Flashcards
What was the first “magic bullet” called, when was it developed, and who was it developed by?
Salvarsan 606, 1910s, Paul Ehrlich
What was the second “magic bullet” called, when was it developed and who was it developed by?
Prontosil, 1930s, Gerhard Domagk
What were Magic Bullets?
A combination of chemical and synthetic substances used to kill bacteria
Describe the process of developing the first Magic Bullet
- First, Ehlrich discovered dyes that could kill malaria
and sleeping sickness germs. - Ehrich and his team later began to search for an
Arsenic compound that was a magic bullet for
Syphilis hoping that it would target the bacteria
without poisoning the rest of the body. - Over 600 compounds were tried, but none seemed
to work. - In 1909, Sahachiro Hata joined the team, rechecking
the results, and found that compound 606 appeared
to work.
-It was first used in 1911 under the name Salvarsan 606
Describe the process of the development of the second Magic Bullet
- In 1932, Gerhard Domagk found that the dye Prontosil
stopped the Streptococcus microbe from multiplying
in mice without killing them. - In 1935, Domagk’s daughter pricked herself with a
needle and caught the disease. Afraid she would die,
Domagk gave her a large dose of Prontosil and she
recovered. - The active ingredient of Prontosil was identified as a
Sulphonamide - However Prontosil had side effects including Liver and Kidney problems
What was the active ingredient in Prontosil, and how was it used to improve modern treatments?
A Sulphonamide, which was a type of drug that could be used to cure pneumonia and scarlet fever
(Sulfa drugs kill bacteria and fungi by interfering with cell metabolism)
What was the bacteria that penicillin destroyed?
Staphylococci
What influenced Fleming’s decision to look for an antibiotic for the staphylococci bacteria?
He saw many soldiers die of septic wounds caused by the staphylococci bacteria while working in an army hospital during WW1
Describe how Fleming discovered penicillin
In 1928 he was cleaning old culture dishes containing staphylococci bacteria for his experiments, and found that a fungal spore had landed on one of the dishes. Fleming saw that the colonies of staphylococci around the mould had stopped growing. The fungus was identified as Penicillium notatum, and produced a substance that killed bacteria. The substance was later given the name penicillin
What was the name of the fungus that produced penicillin?
Penicillium notatum
What challenge did Fleming face after discovering penicillin?
Despite publishing his findings in articles between 1929 and 1931, nobody was willing to fund further research and he was unable to take his work further
How did Ernst Chain and Howard Florey build on Fleming’s work?
Chain, a member of Florey’s team between 1938 and 1940, devised the freeze drying technique which was an important part of the process of purifying penicillin.
Florey and Chain initially didn’t have the resources to mass produce penicillin, however they knew that it would be crucial in treating the wounds of injured soldiers, and as British chemical firms were too busy making explosives, Florey went to America to start mass production. American firms were keen to help after they joined the war in 1941
Describe the mass production of Penicillin after Florey went to America
- In December 1941, the US government began to give
out grants to businesses that manufactured penicillin - Penicillin was important in decreasing the death rate
from bacterial pneumonia in soldiers from 18% to 1% - By 1943, British businesses had also began
manufacturing penicillin - After the war, the cost of penicillin fell, making it more
accessible for general use
impact of the discovery of magic bullets
the discovery of magic bullets showed that the synthetic, targeted treatments for specific diseases were possible
