Abstract
IT is now well known that Dubos and his collaborators in America (see, among other papers by these workers, R. J. Dubos and R. D. Hotchkiss, J. Exp. Med., 73, 629; 1941) obtained from soil, sewage, manure and cheese, several species of aerobic, sporulating bacilli which are antagonistic to unrelated organisms, and that they recovered from these organisms an alcohol-soluble, water-insoluble fraction called tyrothricin, which kills many Gram-positive and Gram-negative organisms. From tyrothricin they isolated two crystalline polypeptides—gramicidin and tyrocidine. Tyrothricin is unsuitable for systemic administration (Brit. Med. J., 122, Jan. 27, 1945), but it is a powerful local antiseptic and has been used for the treatment of wounds, affections of the eye, nose and throat, empyema, certain skin affections and other conditions not requiring parenteral administration. It is now marketed by Messrs. Sharp and Dohme, Ltd., Mulford Biological Laboratories, Hoddesdon, Herts, who issue a booklet on its history and use, with a useful bibliography about it.
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LAPAGE, G. Gramicidin S. Nature 155, 246–247 (1945). https://doi.org/10.1038/155246a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/155246a0