Chapter 1-6: Early Antimicrobials and Regulation

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms from the lecture notes on germ theory, Ehrlich’s dyes, arsphenamine, Prontosil, sulfa drugs, and regulatory events.

Germ theory of disease

Idea that microbes cause disease, established by Koch’s postulates around 1890, shifting medicine from balancing humors to killing pathogens.

Koch's four postulates

The four criteria used to link a microbe to a disease, foundational to establishing germ theory.

Miasma theory

Old disease theory attributing illness to bad air, contrasted with germ theory.

Four humors theory

Ancient medical theory that disease results from imbalances of bodily humors, guiding early therapies.

Methylene blue

First chemical therapy discovered by Paul Ehrlich (1891) to treat malaria; dye that can turn tissues blue and urine green.

Paul Ehrlich

German chemist who pursued dye-based chemical therapies and envisioned selective killing of pathogens.

Atoxyl (arsenic acid)

Arsenic-containing compound used as a starting point to develop arsphenamine.

Arsphenamine (Salvarsan)

First antimicrobial drug (1910) by Ehrlich; arsenic-based; effective against syphilis in mice; mechanism unknown and poorly water-soluble.

Treponema pallidum

Bacterium that causes syphilis; targeted by arsphenamine in Ehrlich’s experiments.

Prontosil

A sulfa dye derivative discovered by Domagk; showed in vivo activity against streptococci and led to the sulfa drug era; active component sulfanilamide.

Sulfanilamide

Active sulfonamide moiety released from Prontosil; became the core of the first true class of antibiotics (sulfa drugs).

Prodrug

A compound that is inactive until metabolized in the body to release the active drug; Prontosil is activated to sulfanilamide in vivo.

Sulfa drugs

Class of antibiotics derived from sulfanilamide, including sulfapyridine and sulfamethoxazole; widely used for decades.

Sulfapyridine

1939 sulfa drug variant used in early antimicrobial therapy.

Sulfamethoxazole

1961 sulfa drug commonly used today in combination with trimethoprim (co-trimoxazole).

Prontosil’s in vivo vs in vitro activity

Prontosil is inactive in vitro but active in vivo because metabolism releases sulfanilamide; demonstrates the prodrug concept.

Gerhard Domagk

German scientist (IG Farben) who developed Prontosil; breakthrough against streptococci in mice (1932) and clinical use (1935).

IG Farben

German dye company that screened azo dye derivatives for antibacterial activity; employer of Domagk.

1937 sulfanilamide elixir disaster

Diethylene glycol solvent caused deaths; spurred regulation and safety testing of drugs.

Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (1938)

US law requiring safety testing, labeling, and government approval for new drugs; response to the 1937 disaster.

United States Pharmacopoeia (USP)

National standard for drug formulas and labeling under the FD&C Act; established to prevent adulteration.

Pearl Harbor and sulfa drugs

Sulfa drugs contributed to lower infection rates among injured soldiers in WWII, highlighting real-world impact of antibiotics.