Effectiveness of Common Disinfectants Introdu

This experiment examined the effectiveness of several different disinfectants. More specifically, one chemical and two antibiotics were evaluated for their ability to inhibit bacterial growth. The chemical and antibiotic disinfectants included phenol, oxacillin, and cefotetan, respectively. These were each applied against the bacterial species, Bacillus subtilis. The results were then compared to a control.

The study of disinfection is a relatively new area of research. Although the use of heat--in the form of fire--to destroy the clothes and corpses of diseased persons dates back to biblical and medieval times, the scientific study of sterilizers has largely occurred within the last 150 years (2:3). With the eighteenth century came the age of chemistry. In 1774, the Swedish chemist, Scheele, discovered chlorine. This milestone was subsequently followed in 1789 by French chemist, Bertholet's, discovery of hypochlorites (2:11). Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, numerous additional disinfectants have come to be recognized. These antimicrobial agents may be of several different types. They may include, for example, both chemical and physical (e.g., X-rays, ultraviolet light, etc.) agents. Furthermore, some disinfectants may consist of a combination of different sterilizers (6:29).

For the most part, a disinfectant is an "agent that frees from infection (1:18)." However, Reddish (1957) pro

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otective coating provides microorganisms with mechanical rigidity. In gram-positive bacteria, the wall consists of a thick layer of peptidoglycan interspersed with teichoic acid or some other polymer. In contrast, gram-negative bacteria have a thinner peptidoglycan layer located next to the cytoplasmic membrane. Outside the gram-negative bacteria's peptidoglycan lies a periplasmic space; beyond that lies an outer membrane containing lipoprotein, lipopolysaccharide, and phospholipids (6:36-38). The ¯-lactam group of antibiotics includes the penicillins, the cephalosporins, and the cephamycins (i.e., the 7-a-methoxycephalosporins). These compounds primarily inhibit the formation of peptidoglycan. Park and Strominger (1957) observed that benzylpenicillin caused an accumulation of cell wall precursors (i.e., uridine nucleotides). The study concluded that the buildup of these compounds resulted from benzylpenicillin's interruption of peptidoglycan synthesis. It is now know that the penicillins act as analogs of various donor substrates involved in the peptidoglycan transpeptidation reaction. In this role, they are able to inhibit cell wall synthesis at a late, crosslinking stage (6:36-38). While the pencillins specifi
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Approximate Word count = 1545
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)