![]() Ĭell walls are not present in human or animal cells. In order for a bacterium to replicate, it must build a new peptidoglycan cell wall. This cell wall is made mostly of peptidoglycan, which is a mesh-like structure made of proteins (peptides) and sugars (glycan). The cell wall of bacteria is an extremely important barrier that bacteria use to stay alive. Many antibiotics in use today are active against the cell wall of a dividing bacterium. ![]() ![]() BacteriologyĪntibiotics destroy or inhibit bacteria growth by interfering with the normal processes of the bacterial cell. It was through laboratory testing that the mechanism of action of vancomycin was discovered. Over time, however, the development of drug resistance, improvement in purification, and the advancement of drug monitoring techniques brought vancomycin to be much more common in practice. Originally, it was considered to be a drug of last resort as penicillins were effective for most infections and the risk of adverse effects were higher for vancomycin than other antibacterial drugs. After discovering that vancomycin had this activity, infectious disease researchers began to explore what uses the substance could have as a drug for severe bacterial infections in humans. Vancomycin protected the nutrient supply needed by Streptomyces orientalis by creating and dispersing the substance, destroying many of the other bacteria species that may enter its territory. Vancomycin (brand name: Vancocin®) is a glycopeptide antibiotic with a history that can be traced back to the 1950s when it was discovered in soil produced by the organism Streptomyces orientalis.
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