Ch. 10: Controlling Microbial Growth in the Body

Flashcards created to cover key vocabulary and concepts from the MIC 205 Microbiology lecture regarding controlling microbial growth in the body.

Selective Toxicity

The ability of drugs to kill or inhibit the growth of pathogens without harming the host.

Chemotherapeutic Agents

Drugs that act against diseases, including antimicrobials designed to treat infections.

Antibiotics

Substances that can kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria; most are derived from natural sources such as fungi and bacteria.

Beta-lactams

A group of antibiotics that inhibit bacterial cell wall synthesis by preventing cross-linking of NAM subunits.

Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC)

The lowest concentration of an antimicrobial agent that prevents the growth of a microorganism.

Disk-diffusion test (Kirby-Bauer test)

A method to test the effectiveness of antibiotics against specific microorganisms.

Nucleic Acid Analogs

Drugs that are structurally similar to nucleotides and can terminate the synthesis of DNA and RNA.

Metabolic Antagonists

Agents that disrupt metabolic pathways of pathogens, often targeting enzymes essential for biosynthesis.

Multidrug Resistance Proteins

Proteins that pump out antimicrobial drugs from bacterial cells, preventing their action.

Synergism

A therapeutic strategy involving the use of multiple antimicrobial agents to enhance efficacy and reduce the likelihood of resistance.