Response to Heather’s Post
I agree with your post on the discussion. You have correctly declared that combination therapy is when two antibiotics are used to either produce a more substantial effect or when one antibiotic inhibits the effect of the other. Similarly, I believe that there is the possibility of bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics, which may involve changes in the drug receptors or the drug’s metabolic inactivation. Consequently, drugs designed to stop the cell wall synthesis in bacteria would not affect human cells because they do not have a cell wall (Neu & Gootz, 1996). I support your declaration that antibiotics act on bacterial cells by stopping cell wall synthesis or by targeting processes that both bacterial cells and human cells have in common, like protein synthesis or DNA replication. However, I have a question, What Is the Main Goal of Studying Microbiology? Generally, the work is excellent. Congratulations!
Response to Zoe’s Post
I concur with your post on the discussion. Usually, drugs that inhibit general metabolic pathways are not used by humans. The term chemotherapy is defined as using chemicals that would selectively kill pathogens while having little or no effect on a patient. Again, selective toxicity is possible because of differences in structure or metabolism between the pathogen and its host. I support your declaration that The RNA polymerase enzymes in bacteria are structurally different from those in eukaryotes, providing selective toxicity against bacterial cells. It is also a fact that Drugs that prevent virus attachment, entry, and uncoating are obstructed by peptide and sugar. Why the RNA polymerase enzymes in bacteria structurally different from those in eukaryotes? I also believe that the key to successful chemotherapy against microbes is its selective toxicity, which implies that an efficient antimicrobial agent must be more toxic to a pathogen than to the pathogen’s host. The work is impressive. Congratulations!
Reference
Neu, H., & Gootz, T. (1996). Antimicrobial chemotherapy – Medical microbiology – NCBI bookshelf. National Center for Biotechnology