Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Antibodies &
Penicillin
- Paul Ehrlich
- 1889 - He wanted to
find chemicals
that could act as
synthetic
antibodies.
- He discovered dyes that
could kill malaria and
sleeping sickness germs.
- 1905 - spirochete bacterium
that caused STD syphilis was
identified.
- Arsenic & Mercury had been used
with some success to cure syphilis
but both are poisonous.
- He researched the arsenic
compound that was a magic bullet
for syphilis.
- They wanted to target
the spirochetes
without poisoning the
rest of the body.
- They tried over 600
compounds but none
worked.
- In 1909, Sahachiro Hata joined
the team.
- He rechecked teh results and found that
compound number 606 appeared to
work.
- 1911 - It was used on a human.
- Antibodies were discovered as a
natural defence mechanism
against germs.
- They knew that antibodies one
attacked specific microbes so they
were called magic bullets.
- Alexander Fleming
- He saw lots of soldiers die of
septic wounds when working in a
hospital in WW1.
- He identified the antiseptic
substance in tears, lysozyme in
1922.
- It only worked on some germs.
- 1928 - he came to clean up old culture
which he was groowing staphylococci on
for experiments.
- He fungal spore had contaminated one.
- Around it the colonies of staphylococci.
- It was identified as Penicillium notatum - Penicillin.
- Gerhard Domagk
- 1932 - found that red dye, Prontosil
stopped the streptococcus microbe
from multiplying in mice.
- It caused fatal blood poisoning
that could be contracted from
minor wounds.
- His daughter pricked herself on a needle and caught
the disease.
- He gave her a dose of Prontosil and she recovered.
- The active ingredient was a sulphonamide and so a
group of drugs followed.
- Negative side effects were discovered later as they damage the liver and kidney.
- It turned her bright red though!
- Florey and Chain
- Penicillin needed purifying
- Chain devised the freeze-drying technique.
- They knew they need to grow lots of it for WW2
- British chemical firms were too
busy making explosives.
- He went to America who joined the war in 1941.
- By 1944, mass production was sufficient for
the military medics.
- They all got nobel prizes in 1945.