2. Tetracycline - History
American Pharmaceutical Industry: In the 1940’s soil
actinomycetes were systematically
screened for the elaboration of antimicrobial substances
3. Broad spectrum – Why ??
• Name given as they contrasted to the existing
Antibiotics - Only Penicillin and Streptomycin
(1944) available
1. Orally effective
2. Wider spectrum of activity –
• gm+ve cocci
• gm+ve bacilli including anerobes (Clostridia)
• gm-ve bacilli including anerobes (Vibrio cholerae, H. pylori,
Brucella etc.)
• Spirochaetes (T. paalidum)
• Rickettsiae and chlamidiae
• Entamoeba Histiolytica and Plasmodia
4. Tetracyclines
• A class of antibiotics named for their nucleus
of four (“tetra-”) hydrocarbon rings
• All are obtained from soil actinomycetes
• 1948 first one – chlortetracycline
(aureomycin) – S. aureofaciens (Yellow
coloured colony)
– Oxytetracycline from S. rimosus (1950)
– Tetracycline (1953)
7. Available drugs - characters
• Tetracycline, oxytetracycline, demeclocycline
– Lower potency (250-500 mg tid)
– Orally given, short acting (t1/2 – 6-8 Hrs)
– Incompletely absorbed from stomach (60-80%)
– Primarily excreted through the kidneys
• Minocycline, doxycycline, tigecycline
– Higher potency (100 - 200 mg)
– Lipid soluble, long acting (t1/2 – 18-24 Hrs)
– Completely absorbed from stomach (95-100%)
– Excreted through liver
8. Tetracyclines - MOA
• Inhibition of Bacterial Protein Synthesis by
binding to 30S ribosomes – aminoacyl-t-RNA
to mRNA-ribosome complex – interfered
• Why do not affect host cells ? – transport and
sensitivity
11. Tetracyclines – Antimicrobial spectrum
• Bacteriostatic drugs: originally all types of organisms
except viruses and fungi – Both, gm+ve and gm-ve
bacteria, Rickettsiae, Chlamydia, Mycoplasma,
actinomycetes and some protozo
• Cocci: All +ve and –ve cocci
– S. pneumoniae, gonococi, meningitidis are sensitive.
Resistance developed to Staph aureus, pyrogens and
enterococci
• Bacilli (+ve): clostridia, listeria, anthracis etc, but not
Mycobacteria
• Enterobacteriocae: resistant and not effective -
pseudomonas, klebsiella and salmonella
12. Tetracyclines - Kinetics
• Older ones less absorbed – 60-80% (food interferes) but doxy and
mino – completely
• Chelating property – milk, antacids and iron preparations
• Distribution: wide and variable protein binding (different members)
– Concentrated in liver, spleen and bone & teeth – minocycline in fats
– Good CSF penetration 1/4th of plasma) – no relation with inflammation
• Excretion: Primarily in urine (dose adjustment in renal failure)
– Doxycycline is exception (bile)
• Preparations: Oral capsules, ½ to 2 Hrs pre and post food
– No IM: painful (oxy and tetra available)
– Also cream, ointment and ocular etc. preparations – high risk of
sensitization
13. Adverse Effects
GI disturbances: Due to Irritation
• Mild nausea and diarrhoea to severe, possibly life-threatening
colitis and Oesophageal ulcer etc.
Superinfection: Disturbances in the normal flora (Diabetics)
– Candidiasis (oral and vaginal) – soreness and redness of
mouth black hairy tounge and inflammatory lesions in vulva,
vagina etc.
– Staphylococcal enteritis (S. aureus) – hospitalized patients –
loss of appetite, abdominal discomfort and watery diarrhoea,
– Pseudomembranous colitis - C. difficile (profuse diarrhoea
and fever) – Rare but dangerous
Difference of diarrhoea: Pus cell or RBCs (absent in irritation
type)
(Doxycycline and Minocycline – less likely to cause diarrhoea)
14. Toxicity – contd.
Liver damage: fatty infiltration
Kidney damage: accumulates except doxycycline
Phototoxicity: Sunburn like - Skin rashes, mainly after topical
application
Erythema, brown black discolouration of nails and loosening etc.
Doxycycline and demeclycline - more
Teeth and Bones: Brown discolouration - Calcium tetracycline
chelate (orthophosphate)
Deciduous teeth – ill formed and prone to carries teeth
Affect the crown of permanent anterior dentition
Pregnancy and childhood - Temporary supression of Bone growth
Antianabolic effect: reduction in Protein synthesis
Diabetes Insipidus: antagonizes ADH and urine conc
15. Tetracyclines - uses
1. Empirical therapy: Mixed Infections
2. Rickettsial infections: Rocky Mountain
Spotted Fever, All forms of typhus and Q
fever (Coxiella burnetii)
3. Atypical pneumonia: due to mycoplasma.
4. Brucellosis: D 200+ R600/day X 6 weeks
5. Plague: Bubonic and Pneumonic plague
16. Tetracyclines – other uses
Other uses: UTI, Chloroquine Resistant
falciparum adjuvant to quinine, Amoebiasis,
Community aquired pneumonia, Acne vulgaris
and COPD
18. Chloramphenicol
(streptomyces venezuelae)
• A natural product
(contains a nitrobenzene
moiety)
• Now all are synthetic
products
• Yellowish white crystalline
solid
• Stable aqueous solution
• Nitrobenzene –
antibacterial activity
19. Chloramphenicol - MOA
• Binds to 50S ribosomal
subunit
• Prevents peptide bonds
from forming and blocking
proteins synthesis
• Bacteriostatic - Effective
against a wide variety of
organisms
• Mainly like tetracycline -
+ve, -ve, Rikettsiae and
mycoplasma
• Generally used as drug of
last resort for life-
threatening infections
20. Chloramphenicol – Differences with
Tetracycline
• Highly effective against S. typhi (RESISTANT
NOW)
• More effective against H. influenzae, B.
pertissis, N. menigitidis
• Less active against gm+ve cocci and
spirochaetes
• Not effective against – chlamydia, entmoeba
and plasmodia
21. Resistance - chloramphenicol
• High incidence of Resistance due to
indiscriminate use in the past – developing
countries
• Resistant strains of S. typhi developed due to
transfer of R plasmid.
• R Plasmid mediated-formation of acetyl- transferases
that inactivate the drug
• Acetyl – chloramphenicol does not bind to ribosomes
• Other mechnisms –
• decreased permeability (passive and facilitated diffusion)
• Lowered affinity of ribosomes to chloramphenicol
22. Pharmacokinetics
• Given orally or parenterally
• Wide distribution – serous cavities and CSF
• Present in bile, milk, and placental fluid
• Conjugated in liver (glucoronic acid)
• Cirrhotics & neonates have low conjugating ability
• Little is excreted unchanged in urine
• T1/2 = 3-5 hrs
• Available as capsules 250mg – 500mg (maximum dose
28 gm in a course of less than 2 weeks)
• Also as inj. 0.25, 0.5 and 1 g per vial
• Eye drops 0.4% and ear drops
23. Adverse effects
• Irritative effects – Nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and pain in injection
• Bone marrow depression: Notorious causes aplastic anaemia,
agrannulocytosis, thrombocytopenia
Hypersensitive effects – Rashes, fever, glossitis and angioedema
• Gray Baby Syndrome: (2-9 days after dose of 100mg/kg)
– Within 24 hours, baby starts to vomit, stops eating, rapid and irregular
respiration, abdominal distension, periods of cyanosis, and pooping
loose green stool
– Baby then turns ashen gray and becomes flaccid and hypothermic
– Also can occur in adults who are cirrhotics
– Death in 40% of cases (CVS collapse)
– Due to Inability to metabolised & excrete chloramphenicol
24. Chloramphenicol - Uses
• Enteric fever: Mainstay in the past
• meningitis as 2nd line to 3rd generation
cefalosporins – child and allergics
– Meningcoccal meningitis and H. influenzae
• Anaerobic infections – Bact. Fragilis
• Intraocular infections – endophthalmitis
• Second choice : brucellosis, UTI, rickettsial
infections, conjunctivitis, external ear
infections
Fanconi syndrome (also known as Fanconi's syndrome) is a disease of the proximal renal tubules of the kidney in which glucose, amino acids, uric acid, phosphate and bicarbonate are passed into the urine, instead of being reabsorbed. Fanconi syndrome affects the proximal tubule, which is the first part of the tubule to process fluid after it is filtered through the glomerulus. It may be inherited, or caused by drugs or heavy metals.