Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Jagir R. Patel
Asst Professor
dept. Pharmacology
Cell wall synthesis inhibitors
Some antimicrobial drugs selectively interfere with synthesis of the
bacterial “ cell wall”a structure that mammalian cells do not possess.
The cell wall is composed of a polymer called peptidoglycan that consists
of glycan units joined to each other by peptide cross-links. To be
maximally effective, inhibitors of cell wall synthesis require actively
proliferating microorganisms; they have little or no effect on bacteria that
are not growing and dividing.
All bacteria (except mycoplasma) lack sterols stabilizing their inner cell
membrane, thus rendering their inner cell membrane extremely vulnerable
to osmotic pressure however, these bacteria have a cell wall (again, except
mycoplasma) primarily consisting of peptidoglycan intimately surrounding
the outside of their inner cell membrane this peptidoglycan protects and
stabilizes the inner cell membrane, thus preventing the osmotic lysis of the
bacteria
The peptidoglycan consists of 2 parts
DISACCARIDE BACKBONE : - alternating molecules of N-
acetyl glucosamine (“NAG”) and N-acetyl muramic acid
(“NAM”)
OLIGOPEPTIDE SIDE-CHAINS
tetra- or pentapeptides of varying composition extending from
both sides of the disaccaride backbone covalently linked to
oligopeptide side-chains of adjacent disaccaride backbones
PBPs are all involved in the final stages of the synthesis of peptidoglycan,
which is the major component of bacterial cell walls. Bacterial cell wall
synthesis is essential to growth, cell division (thus reproduction) and
maintaining the cellular structure in bacteria. Inhibition of PBPs leads to
irregularities in cell wall structure such as elongation, lesions, loss of
selective permeability, and eventual cell death and lysis
Cell wall synthesis inhibitors
Agents effecting cell wall
●
Streptococci, enterococci, pneumococci &
Cocci ●
●
Staph.aureus
Gram –ve cocci:
Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Neisseria meningitides
●
gram +ve:
all Clostridia
●
( Clostridia tetani)
Mechanism of action
MOA
Mechanism of Resistance
NATURAL RESISTANCE: due to the structure of the bacterial cell
envelope, 2 mechanisms
NO PEPTIDOGLYCAN in mycoplasma
does penicillin-binding proteins for
the betalactam antibiotics to attack