AMOXICILLIN · The Ring That Holds Against Acid — Oversized Drop-Should

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TEE-MED-FA-AMO-01-M-BK T-Shirt

Piece

AMOXICILLIN · The Ring That Holds Against Acid Oversized Drop-Shoulder T-Shirt

$ 2,345.00

Description

Amoxicillin came in 1972 out of the same mould as penicillin, with a different side chain that lets it survive stomach acid and be taken as a syrup. Printed here is the molecule with the amine and the phenol that make the difference.

A Author

Amoxicilina

B Subject

Antibiotics

C Aesthetic

Diagram · Typographic

Exploration

The bacterium builds its wall by stitching sugar chains to each other with an enzyme. Penicillin resembles the end that the enzyme expects to stitch, lets itself be caught and does not let go.

The wall is left without rivets while the cell goes on growing, and the internal pressure bursts it. It only kills what is dividing.

The amino group added to the side chain lets it cross the outer membrane of bacteria the original penicillin could not reach, and the whole thing holds against stomach acid.

That is what turns it into a syrup. An antibiotic that can be given by mouth to a three-year-old changes the scale of what gets treated and of what gets over-prescribed.

The bacterium answers by making an enzyme that breaks the ring. That is why it is sold alongside a molecule whose only job is to let itself be broken in its place.

Details