Figure 2.

Models of the Metabolic Consequences of Treatment with Bactericidal and Bacteriostatic Antibiotics

Primary target corruption by bactericidal antibiotics causes damage to essential macromolecules within the cell. This leads to the induction of stress response pathways to alleviate the deleterious consequences of the initial target corruption, which increases metabolic activity to meet the corresponding energy demands. The heightened metabolic output results in the production of toxic metabolic byproducts such as reactive species, which promiscuously damage macromolecules, leading to the induction of additional stress response pathways, thus once again increasing metabolic load. This process continues until the cycle terminates with bacterial cell death. Bacteriostatic antibiotics, on the other hand, tend to strictly inhibit protein biosynthesis (or transcription in certain contexts). This leads to a decrease in metabolic activity and subsequent cell stasis.