Abstract
THE mode of action of sulphanilamide has been the subject of much recent work. Possibly the most precise contribution has been Woods's discovery of the anti-sulphanilamide effect of p-amino benzoic acid (‘p.a.b.’). In a discussion of this work, Fildes1 has suggested that ‘p.a.b.’ might be considered an essential metabolite for bacteria. It is now inferred that sulphanilamide inactivates an essential coenzymic grouping of the susceptible organism1,2, and in view of Woods's work, this grouping is most probably ‘p.a.b.’. Before this hypothesis of sulphanilamide action can be widely accepted it remains to be proved that ‘p.a.b.’ is essential for the growth of organisms inhibited by the drug.
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References
Fildes, Lancet, 1, 955 (1940).
Stamp, Lancet, 11, 10 (1939).
Green, Brit. J. Exp. Path., 21, 38 (1940).
Brown, Wood and Werkman, J. Bact., 38, 631 (1939).
Weizmann, Biochem. J., 33, 1376 (1939).
Woods, Brit. J. Exp. Path., 21, 74 (1940).
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RUBBO, S., GILLESPIE, J. Para-Amino Benzoic Acid as a Bacterial Growth Factor. Nature 146, 838 (1940). https://doi.org/10.1038/146838a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/146838a0
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