Thursday, March 22, 2018

Metronidazole


Mechanism of action
Metronidazole is a prodrug. Unionized metronidazole is selective for anaerobic bacteria due to their ability to intracellularly reduce metronidazole to its active form. This reduced metronidazole then covalently binds to DNA, disrupt its helical structure, inhibiting bacterial nucleic acid synthesis and resulting in bacterial cell death.

Reference: Tripathi K.D., “Essentials of Medical Pharmacology”, Jaypee brothers medical publishers, Seventh edition, New Delhi, page no. 657, 658

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