Penicillin

Penicillin

Introduction

This paper has been written with regards to Penicillin and its discovery. While conducting an investigation on influenza, the Englishman Alexander Fleming accidentally observed in a culture how he performed, the bacteria disappeared by the effect of Penicillium notatum. This observation lead to the concentration, processing and treatment 10 years later by the British biochemist Ernst Chain, the British pathologist Sir Howard Flore and other scientists from the effective penicillin we know today, one of the most important twentieth-century medicinal drugs and probably in the history of mankind. Penicillin acts both by killing the bacteria and inhibiting their growth. Kill only organisms that are growing and reproducing. It is effective against a wide range of diseases caused by microorganisms such as pneumococci, streptococci, the gonococcus, meningococcus, the clostridium of tetanus, and syphilis spirochete. Its side effects are generally limited to allergic reactions that can be provided with safe testing before implementation. In 1944 Alexander Fleming in England was knighted for his contributions to science and medicine. The following year, in 1945, was given the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Alexander Fleming, Howard Walter Florey and Ernst Boris Chain for their contributions to the development of penicillin. Millions of people have saved their lives, to be treated with penicillin diseases for which insurance did not exist before treatment and no cure. Today, however, several bacteria have developed resistance to penicillin and other antibiotic drugs, causing concern among doctors and scientists for a possible return to the past our vulnerability to disease and infections (Virginia Nurses Today, 2003).

Discussion

Industrial Manufacturing

The production of penicillin is an example of typical process for obtaining antibiotics. The fungus used industrially belongs to the Penicillium chrysogenum group and is particularly active against staphylococcus, streptococcus and pneumococcus, as well as most gram-positive microorganisms, presenting insufficient action on the gram negative. A commercially produced penicillin is called penicillin G (benzyl penicillin), although the same fungus produces several types. These compounds are strong acids very unstable, and therefore that the products are on the market are the sodium, calcium, aluminum, potassium or procaine. The following is the formula of penicillin. Other forms of penicillin contain various groups located in the area between brackets.

Figure # 1

(Lax, 2004)

The production system in 1943 was known by the surface method, the fungus grew on the surface of a thin layer of culture medium placed on trays or bottles. In 1944, with the development of the business method of submerged fermentation, reduced space requirements and work resulted in a huge reduction in cost.

Preparation

The inoculum or "seed" for large fermentation tanks of 20,000 to 115,000 liters of capacity. This is prepared by the development of a stock culture of the fungus from spores that are lyophilized in a nutrient agar substrate. Several liters of the culture medium, usually constituting from 5 to 10% of the total content, are prepared in a series of tanks serve to plant seed and a large fermentation Cuba. The four main phases of the production of penicillin are:

Fermentation

Separation of the fermented broth and mycelium of ...