Fluoroquinolones
Fluoroquinolones are a group of chemical substances used for antibiotic treatment of bacterial infection. They can be used to treat many different infections, since they work against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, the two main types of bacteria. Benefits of using fluoroquinolones for treatment include their ease of access, simple formulas, large amount of bacterial targets, effectiveness against infection, and unlikely chance of side effects.
Nomenclature and structure
Fluoroquinolones are a sub-class of quinolone antibiotics, named for their chemical structure. Fluoroquinolones have a similar structure to quinolones; two fused carbohydrate rings with a fluorine atom attached to the sixth carbon and a nitrogen atom replacing the eighth carbon atom.
Medicine
The following medicines are fluoroquinolone antiobiotics:
Norfloxacin (Norocin)
Lomefloxacin (Maxaquin)
Enoxacin (Penetrex)
Ofloxacin (Floxin)
Ciprofloxacin (Cipro)
Levofloxacin (Levaquin)
Sparfloxacin (Zagam)
Gatifloxacin (Tequin)
Moxifloxacin (Avelox)
Trovafloxacin (Trovan)
Alatrofloxacin (Trovan IV)
Ciproflaxin is the most frequently prescribed fluoroquinolone antibiotic, for its strength against gram-negative bacilli bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Salmonella.
Mechanism of action
Fluoroquinolones kill bacteria by damaging their DNA, through halting enzyme function. Enzymes Topoisomerase I and IV are affected such that the supercoiling of bacterial genetic material is not functional.
Side effects
The following side effects can occur during fluoroquinolone antibiotic treatment:
retinal damage
Achilles tendon damage
Nerve disfunction (peripheral neuropathy)
psychiatric change (central neuropathy)
diarrhea
Bacterial resistance
A growing number of bacteria are becoming resistant to quinolone antibiotics due to overuse. To slow the spread of bacterial resistance, fluoroquinolones are usually used as treatment after specific antibiotic medicines have been ruled out.
References
Antibiotics