Pharmacology of Beta Lactam Antibiotics Beta Lactam

Pharmacology of Beta Lactam Antibiotics

Beta Lactam Antibiotics

This class of antibiotic agents, including penicillin derivatives, (penams), cephalosporins (cephems), monobactams, and carbapenems, is the most widely used antibiotic. In fact, more than half of the antibiotics that were commercially sold in 2003 were ?-lactam compounds. Beta lactam antibiotics are characterized by a molecular ?-lactam ring structure (Drawz & Bonomo, 2010). The beta lactam antibiotics inhibit the biosynthesis of the cell walls of bacterial organisms by interfering with the synthesis of peptidoglycan. . The penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) are the bacterial enzymes affected by beta lactam antibiotics, which means that beta lactams do not act against microbes that do not have cell walls containing peptidoglycan, such as chlamydiae, mycoplasmata, rickettsiae, and mycobacteria.

Pharmacotherapeutics

The ?-lactam antibiotics are indicated for the treatment and prevention of bacterial infections. When first introduced to the market, ?-lactam antibiotics were only effective against Gram-positive bacteria (Drawz & Bonomo, 2010). With further development, ?-lactam antibiotics were formulated to act as broad-spectrum antibiotics that are active against Gram-negative organisms (Drawz & Bonomo, 2010).

Pharmacodynamics

The bacteriocidal ?-Lactam antibiotics act by inhibiting the synthesis of the peptidoglycan layer of the bacterial cell wall. The structural integrity of bacterial cell walls is dependent on the peptidoglycan layer. This is particularly true for Gram-positive organism in which the peptidoglycan layer is the primary and outermost component of the cell wall. When ?-Lactam antibiotics are present in the bacterial cell medium while it is dividing, it causes the bacteria to shed cell walls, rendering them unable to divide; instead the bacteria form enlarged and fragile spheroplasts.

Adverse Drug Reactions (ADR)

Common adverse effects of ?-lactam antibiotics include rash, hives (urticarial), diarrhea, nausea, superinfection (particularly of candidiasis). Less frequently, people who are administered ?-lactam antibiotics develop angioedema, dermatitis, erythema, fever, pseudomembranous colitis, vomiting. When ?-lactam antibiotics are administered parenterally, commonly experienced adverse effects are inflammation and pain.

Drug to Drug and Food to Drug Interactions

Patients can experience clinically significant drug-to-drug interactions that can cause substantive harm to them. These drug interactions can be caused by changes in the pharmaceutical, pharmacokinetic, or pharmacodynamic of the prescribed drug or the co-ingested drug (Frankel, 2003). Patients are often advised to avoid dairy and other calcium-heavy products when taking antibiotics, but this is a large class of substances with a range of recommendations. For instance, a large number of beta lactams are acid-labile and decompose with gastric juice, and absorption is limited in the gastrointestinal tract (PharmaSchool, 2013). Consequently, most beta-lactams are available only in parenteral form. For those beta lactams that have been esterified to facilitate absorption, food should be taken when they are administered (PharmaSchool, 2013).

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