Cell wall synthesis, antibacterial drugs

Antibacterial Drugs That Inhibit Bacterial Cell Wall Synthesis and Function... 

Antibacterial drugs that affect cell wall synthesis include two large femilies,the penicillins and cephalosporins, and two individual drugs, bacitracin and vancomycin. 

Antibacterial drugs that inhibit cell wall synthesis penicillins, cephalosporins and vancomycin... 

Figure 9.3 Targets for antibacterial drugs. The various classes of antibacterial drugs exert their effects at one of the four fundamental structural components of bacteria. Each of these components is vulnerable to drug attack. Penicillin, for example, attacks at the level of the cell wall chloramphenicol, however, works at the level of bacterial protein synthesis.

Antibacterial agents may be classified as bacteriostatic or bactericidal (Table 51-3). For agents that are primarily bacteriostatic, inhibitory drug concentrations are much lower than bactericidal drug concentrations. In general, cell wall-active agents are bactericidal, and drugs that inhibit protein synthesis are bacteriostatic. 

Several differences exist between bacterial and human cells, and these differences form the basis for selective toxicity of the antibacterial drugs (Figure 11-1). First, bacteria have a unique outermost layer, a cell wall that is not found in any human cell. A specific layer within the cell wall, called the peptidoglycan, is necessary for the bacterium s structural integrity without it the bacterium lyses and dies. Several antibacterial drugs act by inhibiting synthesis of the cell wall, specifically the peptidoglycan. 

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