Penicillin is an antibiotic that can kill most fungi. It is a substance secreted by Penicillium, and its molecule contains penicillamine, which can effectively destroy the cell wall of bacteria and play a bactericidal role.
How was penicillin discovered?
Penicillin was discovered in alexander fleming, England. 1927 One day, a research paper on cross-infection caused by Staphylococcus aureus mutation caught Fleming's attention. According to the paper, after 52 days of greenhouse culture on the culture medium, Staphylococcus aureus will produce various mutant colonies, including some unknown white colonies. However, the purpose of this mutant population is not explained in this paper. Because of doubts about this article and other reasons, Fleming decided to find out the purpose of these mutant colonies.
In this way, from 1928 to July, Fleming has been repeating the research on the variation of "Staphylococcus aureus" in the laboratory. During these months' research, Fleming made it a habit to observe the culture medium made of mutant colonies at room temperature for the last time before cleaning. Fleming's goal is also very simple, not letting go of any method that can produce new mutant colonies.
Coincidentally, a kind of "mold" that can kill bacteria was discovered.
Just as the holiday was coming, Fleming decided to relax. Before he left, he put Staphylococcus aureus in a Petri dish and then went on holiday. A few months later, when he came back from vacation, he checked the Staphylococcus aureus that had been placed in the Petri dish before, and found that Staphylococcus aureus had grown a group of molds due to pollution, and these molds could "kill" all the Staphylococcus aureus around him. It turns out that the thriving Staphylococcus aureus actually disappeared under the action of these molds!
Fleming immediately realized that he might have found something great, so he carefully scraped out a little of these molds and put them on sterile agar medium. It was found that under aseptic conditions, this mold propagated rapidly and formed dark green mold. Later, after identification, Fleming found that these dark green molds were Penicillium. Later, Fleming inoculated these molds into Petri dishes containing various bacteria. It was found that these molds can not only "kill" Staphylococcus aureus, but also kill common bacteria such as streptococcus and diphtheria, so he called the filtered liquid containing Penicillium secretion "penicillin".
The problem of extraction technology hindered large-scale production.
1In June, 929, Fleming published a paper on the bactericidal effect of mold culture on penicillin, which was subsequently published in the New England Journal of Medicine. However, although Fleming discovered penicillin that can kill most bacteria, his request to apply penicillin to human body was rejected. One of the most important reasons is the purification method and purification problem, which leads to the inability to produce penicillin in large quantities. In desperation, Fleming suspended his research on penicillin on 1934.
Successfully solved the problem of difficult extraction of penicillin and saved thousands of wounded people!
Until 1939, British pathologist Flory and German biochemist Ernst Boris ernst boris chain saw Fleming's paper on penicillin when they were looking up information, so they began to cooperate in the purification experiment of penicillin and re-study the separation and purification methods of penicillin. Finally, the problem of difficult purification of penicillin was successfully solved in 194 1, so that penicillin could be produced in batch and used in human body.
At that time, during World War II, the mass production of penicillin saved countless wounded people in World War II. So after the end of World War II, penicillin, atomic bomb and radar were listed as one of the three great inventions of World War II! Fleming also appeared in 1944 in the American Time magazine.
End an era when infectious diseases cannot be cured, and prolong human life 15 years!
The practical application of penicillin ended an era when infectious diseases were difficult to cure, and prolonged human life by nearly 15 years. Fleming, ernst boris chain and Flory won the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for their contribution to the benefit of mankind. It is no exaggeration to say that the discovery of penicillin is an important milestone in the development of human antibacterial drugs!
Until today, penicillin is still the most popular and widely used antibiotic in the world, and it has triggered the climax of the medical community to find new antibiotics!