penicillin

penicillin
/pen'euh sil"in/, n. Pharm.
any of several antibiotics of low toxicity, produced naturally by molds of the genus Penicillium and also semisynthetically, having a bactericidal action on many susceptible Gram-positive or Gram-negative cocci and bacilli, some also being effective against certain spirochetes.
[1925-30; PENICILL(IUM) + -IN2]

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Antibiotic derived from the Penicillium mold.

It was discovered in 1928 by Alexander Fleming; by 1940, Howard Walter Florey, Ernst Boris Chain, and others had produced commercial quantities that proved vital to the treatment of war casualties, making penicillin the first successful antibiotic for human bacterial infections. Many natural and semisynthetic (ampicillin, amoxicillin) variants have since been produced. All work by inhibiting the enzymes responsible for bacterial cell wall synthesis (and therefore do not work against microorganisms without cell walls or with certain variant cell walls; e.g., the tuberculosis bacillus). Among the bacteria susceptible to penicillin are those causing strep throat, spinal meningitis, gas gangrene, and syphilis. Overuse has led to drug resistance in some strains. Penicillin's chief side effect is allergy, which can be life-threatening.

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drug
 one of the first and still one of the most widely used antibiotic agents, derived from the Penicillium mold. In 1928 Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming (Fleming, Sir Alexander) first observed that colonies of the bacterium (bacteria) Staphylococcus aureus failed to grow in those areas of a culture that had been accidentally contaminated by the green mold Penicillium notatum. He isolated the mold, grew it in a fluid medium, and found that it produced a substance capable of killing many of the common bacteria that infect humans. Australian pathologist Howard Florey (Florey, Howard Walter Florey, Baron) and British biochemist Ernst Boris Chain (Chain, Sir Ernst Boris) isolated and purified penicillin in the late 1930s, and by 1941 an injectable form of the drug was available for therapeutic use.

 The several kinds of penicillin synthesized by various species of the mold Penicillium may be divided into two classes: the naturally occurring penicillins (those formed during the process of mold fermentation) and the semisynthetic penicillins (those in which the structure of a chemical substance—6-aminopenicillanic acid—found in all penicillins is altered in various ways). Because it is possible to change the characteristics of the antibiotic, different types of penicillin are produced for different therapeutic purposes. Penicillin G is the only naturally occurring penicillin that is still used clinically. Because of its poor stability in acid, much of penicillin G is broken down as it passes through the stomach; as a result of this characteristic, it must be given by intramuscular injection, which limits its usefulness. Some of the semisynthetic penicillins are more acid-stable and thus may be given as oral medication.

      All penicillins work in the same way—namely, by inhibiting the bacterial enzymes responsible for cell wall synthesis and by activating other enzymes to break down the protective wall of the microorganism. Therefore, they are not effective against microorganisms that do not produce cell walls.

      Some strains of previously susceptible bacteria, such as Staphylococcus, have developed a specific resistance to the naturally occurring penicillins; these bacteria either produce β-lactamase (penicillinase), an enzyme that disrupts the internal structure of penicillin and thus destroys the antimicrobial action of the drug, or they lack cell wall receptors for penicillin, greatly reducing the ability of the drug to enter bacterial cells. This has led to the production of the penicillinase-resistant penicillins.

      Penicillins are used in the treatment of throat infections, meningitis, syphilis, and various other infections. The chief side effects of penicillin are hypersensitivity reactions, including skin rash, hives, swelling, and anaphylaxis, or allergic shock. The more serious reactions are uncommon. Milder symptoms may be treated with corticosteroids but usually are prevented by switching to alternative antibiotics. Anaphylactic shock, which can occur in previously sensitized individuals within seconds or minutes, may require immediate administration of epinephrine (epinephrine and norepinephrine).

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • penicillin — pen i*cil lin, n. [From Penicillium, the fungus genus from which it was first isolated.] (Chem.) Any of a variety of substances having a structure containing a beta lactam ring fused to a thiirane ring, to which a carboxyl group is attached, most …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • penicillin G — penicillin pen i*cil lin, n. [From Penicillium, the fungus genus from which it was first isolated.] (Chem.) Any of a variety of substances having a structure containing a beta lactam ring fused to a thiirane ring, to which a carboxyl group is… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • penicillin G — jē n the penicillin C16H18N2O4S that constitutes the principal or sole component of most commercial preparations and is used chiefly in the form of its stable salts (as the sodium salt C16H17N2NaO4S or potassium salt C16H17KN2O4S) called also… …   Medical dictionary

  • penicillin V — vē n a crystalline nonhygroscopic acid that is used in the form of its potassium salt C16H17KN2O5S and has antibacterial action similar to penicillin G and is more resistant to inactivation by gastric acids called also phenoxymethyl penicillin *… …   Medical dictionary

  • Penicillin — Sn (ein Antibiotikum) erw. fach. (20. Jh.) Entlehnung. Entlehnt aus ne. penicillin, dieses aus l. Penicillium notatum, dem Namen eines Schimmelpilzes, aus l. pēnicillium Pinsel, Wundfäden, gezupfte Leinwand , einem Diminutivum zu l. pēniculus m.… …   Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen sprache

  • penicillin O — ō n a penicillin C13H18N2O4S2 that is similar to penicillin G in antibiotic activity but that is obtained by growing the penicillia in a culture medium that contains a precursor …   Medical dictionary

  • penicillin F — ef n a penicillin C14H20N2O4S that was the first of the penicillins isolated in Great Britain …   Medical dictionary

  • Penicillin U — См. Пенициллин U (Источник: «Словарь терминов микробиологии») …   Словарь микробиологии

  • penicillin — penicillin. См. пенициллин. (Источник: «Англо русский толковый словарь генетических терминов». Арефьев В.А., Лисовенко Л.А., Москва: Изд во ВНИРО, 1995 г.) …   Молекулярная биология и генетика. Толковый словарь.

  • Penicillin — Penicillin, erstes ⇒ Antibiotikum; 1923 von Alexander Fleming als gegen grampositive Eubakterien wirksames Peptid entdeckt. P. wird von Arten des Pinselschimmels Penicillium produziert; es konnte erst 1940 isoliert werden. Die Wirksamkeit der… …   Deutsch wörterbuch der biologie

  • penicillin — 1929, coined in English by Alexander Fleming (1881 1955), who first recognized its antibiotic properties, from Mod.L. Penicillium notatum (1867), the name of the mould from which it was first obtained, from L. penicillus paintbrush (see PENCIL… …   Etymology dictionary

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