EFFECTS OF ANTIBIOTICS ON

MICRO ORGANISMS

Name: Pratibha Gudala

Class: XII
 INDEX
 Introduction
 History and Discovery
 Goals
 How do antibiotics work?
 Why are antibiotics important?
 Resistance
 Antibiotic Resistance
 How is Resistance spread?
 7 types of antibiotics
 5 Basic mechanism of antibiotic action against
bacterial cell
 Pros of taking antibiotics
 Experiment
 Aim
 Materials Required
 Procedure
 Observation
 Conclusion
 Bibliography
 INTRODUCTION

Antibiotics are chemicals that kill or inhibit the growth

of bacteria and are used to treat bacterial infections.
They are produced in nature by soil bacteria and fungi.
This gives the microbe an advantage when competing for
food and water and other limited resources in a
particular habitat, as the antibiotic kills off their
competition only substance that target bacteria are
called antibiotics.
 Antiseptics are used to sterilize surfaces of living
tissue when the risk of infection is high, such as
during surgery.
 Disinfectants are non-selective antimicrobial, killing
a wide range of micro-organisms including bacteria,
they are used on non-living surfaces, for examples in
hospitals.
 HISTORY AND DISCOVERY

In 1928, at St. Mary Hospital London, Alexander Fleming

discovered Penicillin. Fleming was, a bit disorderly in his
work and accidently discovered Penicillin. Upon returning
from holiday in Suffolk in 1928, he noticed that a fungus,
Penicillium notatum, had contaminated a culture plate of
Staphylococcus bacteria he had accidently left
uncovered.
The discovery of penicillin changed the world of
medicine enormously with its development, infections
that were previously severe and often fatal, like bacterial
endocarditic, bacterial meningitis and pneumococcal
pneumonia, could be easily treated.
Antibiotics were widely used for treating soldiers during
World War II, caring for battle wound infections and
pneumonia by the mid to late 1940s it became widely
accessible for the general public.
 GOALS
 To study the effect of antibiotics on micro-
organisms(bacteria)
 To understand its mechanism.
 HOW DO ANTIBIOTICS WORK?

Antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections.

Antibiotics take advantages of the difference between
the structures of bacterial cell and the host’s cell
They either prevent the bacterial cells from multiplying
so that the bacterial population remains the same,
allowing the hosts defence mechanism to fight the
infection or kill the bacteria, for example stopping the
mechanism responsible for building their cell walls.
An antibiotic can also be classified according to the range
of pathogens against which it is effective Penicillin G will
destroy only a few species of bacteria and is known as
narrow spectrum bacteria tetracycline is effective against
a wide range of organism and is known as broad
spectrum bacteria.
 WHY ARE ANTIBIOTICS
IMPORTANT?
The introduction of antibiotics into medicine
revolutionized the way infectious disease were treated
between 1945 & 1972, average human life expectancy
jumped by eight years, with antibiotics used to treat
infectious that were previously likely to kill patients
today antibiotics are one of the most common classes of
drugs used in medicine and make possible many of the
complex surgeries that have become routine around the
world.
If we ran out of effective antibiotics, modern medicine
would be set back by decades relatively minor surgeries,
such as appendectomies, could become life threatening
as they were before antibiotics became widely available
antibiotics are sometimes used in a limited numbers of
patients before surgery to ensure that patients do not
contact any infectious from bacteria entering open cuts
without this precaution, the risk of blood poisoning
would have become much higher, and many of the more
complex surgeries doctors now perform may not be
possible.
 RESISTANCE
1. Antibiotic resistance

Bacteria are termed drug resistance when they are

no longer inhibited by an antibiotic to which they
were previously sensitive. The emergence and
spread of antibacterial-resistance bacteria has
continued to grow due to both the over use and
misuse of antibiotics.
Treating a patient with antibiotics causes the
microbes to adapt or die, this is known as ‘selective
 pressure’ if a strain of a bacteria species acquires
resistance to an antibiotic, it will survive the
treatment. As the bacterial cell with acquired
resistance multiplies, this resistance is passed on to
its offspring in ideal conditions some bacterial cells
can divide every 20 minutes, therefore after only 8
hours in excess of 16 million bacterial cells carrying
resistance to that antibiotic could exist.

2. How is resistance spread?

Antibiotic resistance can either be inherent or

acquired some bacteria are naturally resistance to
some antibiotics due to their physiological
characteristics this is inherent resistance acquired
resistance occurs when a bacterium that was
originally sensitive to an antibiotic develops
resistance for example, resistance genes can be
transferred from one plasmid to another plasmid or
chromosome or resistance can occur due to a
random spontaneous chromosomal mutation.
 7 TYPES OF ANTIBIOTICS
Although there are well over 100 antibiotics, the majority
come from only a few types of drugs these are the main
classes of antibiotics.

ANTIBIOTIC EXAMPLE

PENICILLIN amoxicillin
CEPHALOSPORINS cephalexin
MACROLIDES erythromycin
FLUOROQUINOLONES ofloxacin
SULPHONAMIDES bacterium
TETRACYCLINES tetracycline
AMINOGLYCOSIDES gentamicin
 FIVE BASIC MECHANISM OF
ANTIBIOTIC ACTION AGAINST
BACTERIAL CELLS
 Inhibition of cell wall synthesis (most common
mechanism)
 Inhibition of protein synthesis (translation)
 Alteration of cell membranes
 Inhibition of Nucleic acid synthesis
 Anti metabolite activity

The ribosome is a major target for antibiotics drugs

inhibit ribosome function either by interfering in
messenger RNA translation or by blocking the formation
of peptide bonds at the peptidyl transferees centre these
effects are the consequence of the binding of drugs to
ribosomal subunits.
PROS OF TAKING ANTIBIOTICS

 Antibiotics can slow down the growth of bacteria

and kill many types of infections.
 In some cases, such as before surgery antibiotics
can prevent infection from occurring.
 Antibiotics are fast acting, some will begin working
within a few hours.
 They are easy to take, most antibiotics are oral
medications your doctor may decide to give you
an injection, if it is imperative that the medicine
gets into your system quickly.
 SIDE EFFECT OF TAKING
ANTIBIOTICS
The most common side effects of antibiotics is it
effects the digestive system antibiotics commonly
cause the following side effects.
 Diarrhea
 Nausea
 Vomiting
 Rash
 Upset stomach
 Sensitivity to sunlight, when taking
tetracycline
 With certain antibiotics or prolongated use,
fungal infections of the mouth, digestive tract
and vagina.
 EXPERIMENT
AIM: To see the effect of antibiotics on bacteria count.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:
 10 test-tubes of sterilized water
 10 PCA(Agar) plates
 Bunsen burner
 Graduated cylinder
 Ethanol (used for sterilizing just flame is enough
most cases)
 Glass hockey stick
 Pipettes
 Refrigerator
 Incubator (A warm cabinet for growing bacteria)
 Scale
 Large beaker
 Hot plate
 Sample antibiotic
 PROCEDURE
Step 1:
Prepare a culture media plate for growing bacteria
Step 2:
Get a sample of polluted water for test Mix 2ml of
polluted water with 10ml chicken broth in a test tube
and incubate it for 24 hours so the bacteria will
reproduce and increase, usually this is done on a device
that constantly moves, so the bacteria can freely move in
the liquid, most likely you will not have a vibrator, so it is
good if you shake the test tube a few times during this
incubation period.
Step 3:
While the bacteria are being incubated, prepare some
antibiotic disks as described here (Antibiotic disks can
also be purchased from biology suppliers)
Break an antibiotic capsule (here using Ampicillin) and
empty the contents in a clean petri-dish one capsule will
be enough for hundreds of disks.
Dispose of the plastic shell and add a few drops of water
to the remaining powder cut some filter papers in small
pieces and soak them in the antibiotic solution, let the
disks dry in a clean space, you may cover them with
another filter paper to protect them from dust.

Although they are known as antibiotic disks, you can cut

them in small squares.
The reason that we use filter paper is that other papers
often have starch and other polymers that may affect the
results of our experiments, filter paper is pure cellulose
fibre.
Step 4:
Use the bacteria that you have grown in step 2 and
prepare dilution of bacteria
1. Prepare 1 10 dilution of the sample to do this, take
2ml of the sample and blend it with 18ml of distilled
water.
2. Pipette 0.1ml of each dilution onto a plates count
Agar (PCA) plate.
3. Take a glass hockey stick submersed in ethanol and
run it through a flame to sterilize it (Glass hockey
stick is a glass rod bent on one end like a hockey
stick it is used to spread bacteria on the surface of
agar plate you may use a steel spoon instead)
4. Let it cool and use it to spread dilution around the
plate.
5. Do this on two plates for each of the five different
dilutions
6. Place an antibiotic disk on the plate of dilution
7. Incubate the plate at 35 degree Celsius for 24 hours
and then count the bacterial colonies.
8. Take 3 nutrients agar plate and added 0.5ml of the
solution on each of plates.
 9. Leaving one plate without any antibiotics, placing
one antibiotic disk on the second plate and two
antibiotic disks on the third plate, all plates were
incubated for 48 hours.
10. Let it cool and use it to spread dilution around the
plate.
11. Do this on two plates for each of the five different
dilutions.
12. Place an antibiotic disk on the plate of dilution.
13. Incubate the plate at 35 degree Celsius for 24 hours
and then count the bacterial colonies.
14. Take 3 nutrients agar and added 0.5ml of the
solution on each of plates.
15. Leaving one plate without any antibiotics, placing
one antibiotic disk on the second plate and two
antibiotic disks on the third plate all plates were
incubated for 48 hours.
 OBSERVATION

CONCLUSION
The growth of bacteria around the antibiotic disks is less
inhibition zones are more in the plates with more
antibiotic disks.
Hence, antibiotics stop the proliferation of becteria.