title: Beta-lactamases as the main resistance factor to penicillin-related antibiotics.
abstract: The interplay between the three factors involved in the resistance of bacteria to beta-lactam antibiotics (sensitivity of target, synthesis of beta-lactamase, permeability barrier) is analysed and discussed on the basis of a simple kinetic model. The three factors do not act independently. In Gram-negative bacteria, the permeability barrier is only significant when the bacterial cell also produces a beta-lactamase. Special attention is devoted to cases where large periplasmic beta-lactamase concentrations prevail, a situation which has been observed in some clinical isolates.
authors.affiliation: Service de Microbiologie, Université de Liège, Institut de Chimie, Belgium.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Frère
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Joris
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000201:enzymology; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology; D008954:Models, Biological; D010403:Penicillin Resistance; D001618:beta-Lactamases / Q000096:biosynthesis; D047090:beta-Lactams
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D047090:beta-Lactams; D001618:beta-Lactamases