Beta-lactam Antibiotics: Types and Properties

Beta-Lactam Antibiotics

• Over 42,000 articles have been published on beta-lactam antibiotics between the 1970s and 2018, indicating their widespread acceptance.
• Carbapenems (e.g., meropenem, ertapenem, imipenem) and monobactams (e.g., aztreonam) are newer generations of beta-lactam antibiotics that are resistant to beta-lactamase and have unique antimicrobial spectra.
• The author studied original beta-lactam antibiotics due to the side effects of carbapenems and monobactams.

Characteristics of Beta-Lactam Antibiotics

• Beta-lactam antibiotics consist of four distinct groups: penicillins, cephalosporins, monobactams, and carbapenems.
• The active core of these antibiotics is the β-lactam ring, a cyclic amide of a carboxylic acid with a four-membered lactam ring.
• Beta-lactams are bactericidal antibiotics that target the formation of bacterial cell walls, essential for structural integrity.

History and Mechanism

• Penicillin was the first discovered beta-lactam antibiotic.
• The structure, composition, and reaction of the beta-lactam ring are well described in this article.
• Beta-lactams inhibit the cellular target in bacteria, which is the bacterial cell wall.
• The mechanism of action of beta-lactams involves inhibiting bacterial cell wall formation.

Bacterial Resistance

• Bacteria have developed resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics despite their widespread use.
• The author explains the physiological approach of bacteria to counter the introduced antibiotics, which involves developing resistance.
• Beta-lactam antibiotics are a class of antimicrobials with a last-resort status due to their distinct mechanism of action and low toxicity.