Tetracycline

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Tetracycline

Tetracycline (INN

International Nonproprietary Name

An International Nonproprietary Name is the official non-proprietary or generic name given to a pharmaceutical substance, as designated by the World Health Organization ....
) is a broad-spectrum polyketide

Polyketide

Polyketides are secondary metabolites from bacterium, fungi, plants, and animals. Polyketides are biosynthesis by the polymerization of acetyl and propionyl subunits in a similar process to fatty acid metabolism#Synthesis ....
antibiotic

Antibiotic

In common usage, an antibiotic is a substance or compound that kills or inhibits the growth of bacteria. Antibiotics belong to the group of antimicrobial compounds used to treat infections caused by microorganisms, including fungus and protozoa....
produced by the Streptomyces
Streptomyces

Streptomyces is the largest genus of Actinobacteria and the type genus of the family Streptomycetaceae. Over 500 species of Streptomyces bacteria have been described....
genus

Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
of Actinobacteria

Actinobacteria

Actinobacteria or actinomycetes are a group of Gram-positive bacterium with high G+C ratio. ...
, indicated for use against many bacterial infections. It is commonly used to treat acne

Acne vulgaris

Acne vulgaris is a skin condition caused by changes in the pilosebaceous units . Severe acne is inflammation, but acne can also manifest in noninflammatory forms....
today, and played a historical role in stamping out cholera

Cholera

Cholera, sometimes known as Asiatic or epidemic cholera, is an infectious gastroenteritis caused by enterotoxin-producing strains of the bacterium Vibrio cholerae....
in the developed world. It is sold under the brand names Sumycin, Terramycin, Tetracyn, and Panmycin, among others. Actisite is a thread-like fiber form, used in dental applications.

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Encyclopedia

Tetracycline (INN

International Nonproprietary Name

Polyketide

Antibiotic

Genus

Actinobacteria

Actinobacteria or actinomycetes are a group of Gram-positive bacterium with high G+C ratio. ...
, indicated for use against many bacterial infections. It is commonly used to treat acne

Acne vulgaris

Cholera

Tetracycline antibiotics

Tetracyclines are a group of broad-spectrum antibiotics whose general usefulness has been reduced with the onset of bacterial resistance. Despite this, they remain the treatment of choice for some specific indications....
.

Mode of action

It works by inhibiting action of the prokaryotic

Prokaryote

The prokaryotes are a group of organisms that lack a cell nucleus , or any other cell membrane-bound organelles. They differ from the eukaryotes, which have a cell nucleus....
30s ribosome

Ribosome

Ribosomes are complexes of RNA and protein that are found in all cell s. Ribosomes from bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes, the three domains of life on Earth, have significantly different structure and RNA....
, by binding the 16S rRNA thereby blocking the aminoacyl-tRNA

Aminoacyl-tRNA

Aminoacyl-tRNA is tRNA to which its cognated amino acid is adhered. Its role is to deliver the amino acid to the ribosome where it will be incorporated into the polypeptide chain that is being produced....
. However, bacterial strains can acquire resistance against tetracycline and its derivates by encoding a resistance operon

Operon

An operon is a functioning unit of key nucleotide sequences of DNA including an operator , a common promoter, and one or more structural genes, which is controlled as a unit to produce mRNA , in the process of transcription by an RNA polymerase....
. In eukaryotic cells, toxicity may be the result of inactivation of mitochondrial 30S ribosome

Ribosome

History

The tetracyclines are a large family of antibiotics that were discovered as natural products by Benjamin Minge Duggar

Benjamin Minge Duggar

Benjamin Minge Duggar was an United States plant physiologist, born at Gallion, Alabama, Hale County, Alabama, Alabama He studied at several Southern schools, including Auburn University , and at Harvard University, Cornell University , and in Germany, Italy, and France....
and first described in 1948. Tetracycline was then discovered by Lloyd Conover

Lloyd Conover

Lloyd Conover is the inventor of Tetracycline. For this invention, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame....
in the research departments of Pfizer

Pfizer

Pfizer Incorporated is a major pharmaceutical company, ranking number one in sales in the world. The company is based in New York City, and its research headquarters is in Groton, Connecticut....
. The patent

Patent

A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to an inventor or his assignee for a term of patent in exchange for a disclosure of an invention....
for tetracycline, , was first issued in 1950. However, Nubian mummies have been studied in the 1990s and were found to contain significant levels of tetracycline; there is evidence that the beer brewed at the time could have been the source. Tetracycline sparked the development of many chemically altered antibiotics and in doing so has proved to be one of the most important discoveries made in the field of antibiotics. It is used to treat many gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria and some protozoa. It, like some other antibiotics, is also used in the treatment of acne

Acne

Acne is a group of skin rashes that have different causes.* Acne vulgaris - most commonly experienced around puberty, typically of the face and shoulders/chest...
.

Cautions, contraindications, side effects

Are as those of the tetracycline antibiotics

Tetracycline antibiotics

Can stain developing teeth (even when taken by the mother during pregnancy)
Inactivated by Ca²⁺ ion
Ion

An ion is an atom or molecule which has lost or gained one or more electrons, giving it a positive or negative electrical charge. According to the Bohr_model this will be from or in the outer shield 'n'....
, not to be taken with milk
Milk

Milk is an opaque white liquid produced by the mammary glands of female mammals . It provides the primary source of nutrition for newborn mammals before they are able to digestion other types of food....
or yogurt
Inactivated by aluminium
Aluminium

Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white and ductile member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al; its atomic number is 13....
, iron
Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron is a Group 8 element and period 4 element. Iron is lustrous and silvery in color....
and zinc
Zinc

Zinc is a metallic chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a first-row transition metal of the group 12 element of the periodic table....
, not to be taken at the same time as indigestion remedies
Inactivated by common antacids and over-the-counter heartburn medicines.
Skin
Skin

The skin is the outer covering of the body, also known as the epidermis. It is the largest organ of the integumentary system made up of multiple layers of epithelial biological tissue, and guards the underlying muscles, bones, ligaments and organ s....
photosensitivity
Photosensitivity

Photosensitivity is the amount to which an object reacts upon receiving photons, especially visible light....
; exposure to the Sun
Sun

The Sun , a G V star, is the star at the center of the Solar System. The Earth and other matter orbit the Sun, which by itself accounts for about 98.6% of the Solar System's mass....
or intense light
Light

Light, or visible light, is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength that is Visible spectrum to the human eye , or up to 380?750 nm. In the broader field of physics, light is sometimes used to refer to electromagnetic radiation of all wavelengths, whether visible or not....
is not recommended
Drug-induced lupus
Lupus erythematosus

Lupus erythematosus is a connective tissue disease....
, and hepatitis
Hepatitis

Hepatitis implies injury to the liver characterized by the presence of inflammatory cell s in the Tissue of the organ. The name is from ancient Greek hepar , the root being hepat- , meaning liver, and suffix -itis, meaning "inflammation" ....
Tinnitus
Tinnitus

Tinnitus is the perception of sound within the human ear in the absence of corresponding external sound.Tinnitus can be perceived in one or both ears or in the head....
When used for acne vulgaris
Acne vulgaris

Acne vulgaris is a skin condition caused by changes in the pilosebaceous units . Severe acne is inflammation, but acne can also manifest in noninflammatory forms....
, skin can be extremely dry and flaky if overused
May interfere with methotrexate
Methotrexate

Methotrexate , abbreviated MTX and formerly known as amethopterin, is an antimetabolite and antifolate drug used in treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases....
by displacing it from the various protein binding sites
Can cause breathing complications as well as anaphylactic shock in some individuals
Should be avoided during pregnancy
Pregnancy

Pregnancy is the carrying of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, inside the uterus of a female. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or Multiple birth....
as it may affect bone growth of fetus
Fetus

A fetus is a developing mammal or other viviparous vertebrate, after the embryonic stage and before childbirth. The plural is fetuses, or sometimes feti....

Indication

Tetracycline's primary use is for the treatment of acne vulgaris

Acne vulgaris

Acne vulgaris is a skin condition caused by changes in the pilosebaceous units . Severe acne is inflammation, but acne can also manifest in noninflammatory forms....
and rosacea

Rosacea

Rosacea is a chronic condition characterized by facial erythema . Pimples are sometimes included as part of the definition.It is a common but often misunderstood condition that is estimated to affect over 45 million people worldwide....
.

Other uses

Since tetracycline is absorbed into bone, it is used as a marker of bone growth for biopsies in humans, and as a biomarker in wildlife

Wildlife

Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals, and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative....
to detect consumption of medicine- or vaccine

Vaccine

A vaccine is a biological preparation that establishes or improves immunity to a particular disease.Vaccines can be prophylaxis , or Medication ....
-containing baits. The presence of tetracycline in bone is detected by its fluorescence

Fluorescence

Fluorescence is a luminescence that is mostly found as an optical phenomenon in cold bodies, in which the molecular absorption of a photon triggers the emission of a photon with a longer wavelength....
.

In genetic engineering tetracycline is used in transcriptional activation. Tetracycline is also one of the antibiotics used to treat ulcers caused by bacterial infections. In cancer research at Harvard Medical School, tetracycline has been used to reliably cause regression of advanced stages of leukemia in mice, by putting this inexpensive antibiotic into their drinking water.

Cell Culture

Tetracycline is used in cell biology as selective agent in cell culture systems. It is toxic to prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells and selects for cells harboring the bacterial tet^r gene, which encodes a 399-amino acid membrane associated protein. This protein actively exports tetracycline out of the cell rendering cells harboring this gene more resistant to the drug. The yellow crystalline powder can be dissolved in water (20mg/ml) or ethanol (5mg/ml) and is routinely used at 10mg/L in cell culture. In cell culture at 37^oCelsius it is stable for 4 days.