Lysis Enhancement: A Novel Form of Interaction Between -Lactam Antibiotics

Lactam Antibiotics

A novel endopeptidase degrading the pel)tide cross-links in sacculi has been isolated from Escherichia coli and purified to homogeneity. I'lhe enzyme has a molecular weight of 30,000 and, in contrast to already known enzymes of similar specificity, remains fully active in the presence of/3-lactam antibiotics. In adldition, it is exceptional in being inhibited by single-strandetl tleoxyribonucle...

-Lactam Antibiotics

Beta-Lactam Antibiotics and Vancomycin Beta-lactam antibiotics

Anti-bacterial drugs have “selective toxicity”, that is they interact with a target present on the bacterial cell, the prokaryote, that is not present in the mammalian host, the eukaryote. For the ß-lactam drugs, this target is the cell wall. Mammalian cells lack cell walls, which for the bacteria are a critically important barrier protecting the organism from not only the vagaries of osmotic s...

β-Lactam Antibiotics Renaissance.

Since the 1940s β-lactam antibiotics have been used to treat bacterial infections. However, emergence and dissemination of β-lactam resistance has reached the point where many marketed β-lactams no longer are clinically effective. The increasing prevalence of multidrug-resistant bacteria and the progressive withdrawal of pharmaceutical companies from antibiotic research have evoked a strong rea...

Interaction between terpenes and penicillin on bacterial strains resistant to beta-lactam antibiotics

INTRODUCTION A variety of medicinal plants possess the capacity to synthesize aromatic compounds called essential oils, which are obtained either by hydrodistillation or by expression. These oils are complex mixtures of organic compounds, including monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes. Beneficial properties for human and animal health have been attributed to these compounds such as: antitumoral acti...