Antimicrobial Agents: Cell Membrane Functioning Inhibitors

Antimicrobial Agents
Name:
Institutional Affiliation:
Antimicrobial Agents
Antimicrobials refer to the agents that act through inhibiting, slowing down the growth or killing the microorganisms. The drugs present various benefits towards preventing and treating different illnesses. However, the misuse of the antimicrobials has led to a challenge of resistant infections. According to Ventola (2015, p.277), the bacterial diseases are becoming a threat because of the misuse and overuse of the drugs and lack of new developments of the antimicrobials. The challenge poses significant risks to several medical procedures such as surgeries, diabetes management, cancer chemotherapy, and organ transplantations. The paper presents the antimicrobial classes, the difference between viral and bacterial infections, and the need for proper identification of the disease.
Antimicrobial Agents’ Categories
The antibiotics can be classified based on their action mode, resulting from their structure and the different degrees of affinity to target bacterial walls’ site. The following are the categories.
Cell Wall Synthesis Inhibitors
These antimicrobials work because of the presence of a cell wall in eubacteria while lacking in mammals. The drugs work through the obstruction of peptidoglycan synthesis of the bacteria cell walls. The successful treatment with the inhibitor results cell size and shape changes inducing stress responses that finally causes cell lysis (Kohanski, Dwyer, & Collins, 2010). Some examples include Bacitracin, daptomycin, penicillin, cephalosporin, and vancomycin.
Protein Synthesis Inhibitors
The protein synthesis is an important process for the multiplication of bacterial cells and hence their survival. The antibiotics in this group fall into the 30S and 50S inhibitors that bind the 30S or the 50S ribosome subunits. They act through blocking the cell initiation, elongation or translation. The disruption of the normal bacterial cellular metabolism results in the inhibition of multiplication and growth or the death of the bacteria. The antibiotics that obstruct protein synthesis include macrolide, aminoglycoside, lincosamide, amphenicol, tetracycline, and streptogramins.
Cell Membrane Functioning Inhibitors
The cell membranes have a critical role in regulating and segregating extracellular and intracellular substance flow. The antibiotics in this group act through damaging or disrupting the structure leading to the leakage of essential solutes that enable cell survival. The use of these antimicrobials is limited to topical applications because of the chances of causing harm to the mammal host. Both the prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells have the cell membranes and hence the host’s structure might be affected because of weak selective action of the drugs. Examples include colistin and polymyxin B.
Nucleic Acid Synthesis Inhibitors
All living organisms, including bacteria depend on RNA and DNA for replication. The antimicrobials in this group bind some DNA and RNA synthesis components of the bacteria, resulting in bacteriostasis and hence killing them. Examples include quinolones and rifamycins (Kohanski, Dwyer, & Collins, 2010).
Other Metabolic Processes Inhibitors