Pathogen: Any organism that can produce disease.

A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a germ.

Virus, bacterium, protozoan, or fungus.
Small animals, such as certain worms or insects, can also cause or transmit disease, these animals are usually referred
to as parasites rather than pathogens.

Pathogenesis: The process by which a disease or disorder develops.

Greek… pathos = suffering or disease, genesis = creation
Internal factors or external factors. Not to be confused with pathogen.

Disorder: A functional abnormality or disturbance.

Medical disorders can be categorized into mental disorders, physical disorders, genetic disorders, emotional and
behavioural disorders, and functional disorders.
Syndrome: The association of several signs and symptoms, or other characteristics that often occur together,
regardless of whether the cause is known.
Down syndrome, Parkinsonian syndrome, Acute coronary syndrome, etc.

• A disease is a pathophysiological response to internal or external factors.

• A disorder is a disruption to regular bodily structure and function.
• A syndrome is a collection of signs and symptoms associated with a specific health-related cause.

Diseases in humans that are caused by infectious agents are known as pathogenic diseases.
Not all diseases are caused by pathogens, other causes are, for example, toxins, genetic disorders and the
host's own immune system.
Antibiotic: A substance active against bacteria. Usually a medicine.
Antibacterial: An antibiotic, a type of antimicrobial agent used mainly against bacteria; it may kill or inhibit bacteria.
Not necessarily a medicine, like antibacterial soap

Inhibit: Don’t let them multiply or reproduce.

Inhibition: A process that inhibit.

Antibacterial agents may also refer to:

Antiseptic: A principal type of antimicrobial agent used mainly against bacteria; it may kill or inhibit them.
Disinfectant: Kill or inhibit microbes in cleaning/sanitation but not taken internally as medicine.
Bactericide: Kills bacteria. Focus on –cide, referring to killing … suicide, insecticide, etc. Stop a process in bacteria
necessary for its survival.
Bacteriostatic: An agent that does not kill bacteria but inhibits their multiplication. Focus on word static. Stop a
process in bacteria necessary for replication.
Types of bacteria
Hans Christian Gram
Gram positive and Gram negative…G … CAPITAL
• Gram staining differentiates bacteria by the chemical and physical properties of their cell walls.
• Gram-positive cells have a thick layer of peptidoglycan (sugars and amino acids) in the cell wall, giving violet or purple
colour.
• Gram-negative cells have a thinner peptidoglycan layer that stain pink or red.

• A broad-spectrum antibiotic is an antibiotic that acts on both Gram-

positive and Gram-negative bacteria, or on multiple bacterial strains.
• Narrow-spectrum antibiotic is an antibiotic that is only able to kill or
inhibit limited species of bacteria.
When broad-spectrum antibiotic is good?
A Gram stain of mixed Staphylococcus
When narrow-spectrum antibiotic is good? aureus (Gram-positive cocci, in purple)
Anaerobic: Don’t need oxygen and Escherichia coli (Gram-negative, in
red)
Aerobic: Need oxygen
Resistance: Act against …

Bacterial resistance:
Bacteria antibiotic resistance:
Could be against any antibacterial agents,
antiseptic, disinfectant, bactericide, or
bacteriostatic.

Efflux:
Influx:
Inactivating enzyme:
Target amplification:
Target alteration:
SOME DEFINATIONS
In vitro: Enzyme inhibition or cell-based
In vivo: Animal model
In silico: Computer-based

Water: Medium in living systems, inside or outside of cells

Liquids: Volume of solution and amount of solute…. Here comes concentration.
% (w/w, w/v, v/w, v/v), molarity, mg/ml, μg/ml, etc.
IC50: Concentration at which 50% inhibition takes place

IC90: Concentration at which 90% inhibition takes place

MIC: Minimum inhibitory concentration, lowest concentration of an agent that prevents visible growth
 Dose-response Curve.

Why 50, 90, or MIC

MIC
Start from very low concentration, keep on
increasing, see at which concentration there is no
growth.
Other way around.
Start form a very high concentration, keep on
decreasing, see at which concentration growth
starts.
The success of antibacterial agents owes much to the fact that they can act selectively against bacterial cells rather than
animal cells.
Bacterial cells and animal cells differ both in their structure and in the biosynthetic pathways which proceed inside them.

Differences between bacterial and animal cells

1- The bacterial cell has a cell wall, as well as a cell membrane,
whereas the animal cell has only a cell membrane.
The cell wall is crucial to the bacterial cell's survival. Bacteria have
to survive a wide range of environments and osmotic
pressures, whereas animal cells do not. If a bacterial cell lacking a
cell wall was placed in an aqueous environment containing a low
concentration of salts, water would freely enter the cell due to
osmotic pressure. This would cause the cell to swell and
eventually 'burst'. The cell wall does not stop water flowing into
the cell directly, but it does prevent the cell from swelling and so
indirectly prevents water entering the cell.
• The bacterial cell does not have a defined nucleus, whereas the
animal cell does.
• Animal cells contain a variety of structures called organelles
(e.g. mitochondria, etc.), whereas the bacterial cell is relatively
simple.
How to validate if the test was OK

Controls
1- Negative control (no control)
2- Positive control (a standard)

As a general knowledge…
Blood culture test:
1- Type/Types of bacteria
2- Resistant and effective antibiotic

Topic 10.1 from Medicinal chemistry by Graham L. Patrick (1995)

UP NEXT …
Generations of antibiotics …
Types of antibiotics based on chemical structure…
Types of antibiotics based on mode of actions… the enzyme involved.