Authors: S Jana J K Deb
Publish Date: 2006/01/04
Volume: 70, Issue: 2, Pages: 140-150
Abstract
Aminoglycosides are potent bactericidal antibiotics targeting the bacterial ribosome where they bind to the Asite and disrupt protein synthesis They are particularly active against aerobic Gramnegative bacteria and act synergistically against certain Grampositive organisms Aminoglycosides are used in the treatment of severe infections of the abdomen and urinary tract bacteremia and endocarditis They are also used for prophylaxis especially against endocarditis Bacterial resistance to aminoglycosides continues to escalate and is widely recognized as a serious health threat This might be the reason for the interest in understanding the mechanisms of resistance It is now clear that the resistance occurs by different mechanisms such as prevention of drug entry active extrusion of drugs alteration of the drug target mutational modification of 16S rRNA and mutational modification of ribosomal proteins and enzymatic inactivation through the expression of enzymes which covalently modify these antibiotics Enzymatic inactivation is normally due to acetyltransferases nucleotidyltransferases and phosphotransferases In this review we focus on the recent concept of molecular understanding of aminoglycoside action and resistance
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