 Hey everybody, Dr. O here. This figure we're going to cover another class of the protein synthesis inhibiting antibiotics. So we're going to talk about tetracycline here. So you see that this is the bacterial ribosome, it's called a 70S ribosome, the S stands for Svedberg units, no big deal, but you see it has a 50S large subunit, a 30S small subunit. So the tetracycline, they are going to bind to this 30S small subunit and they're going to prevent the transfer RNAs that carry the amino acids to add to the chain. They're going to prevent them from actually doing their job, which means proteins won't be made. So tetracycline is a great example of a protein synthesis inhibitor. So this is different than the amino glycoside, which they both impact the same subunit, but these are bacteriostatic, which means they inhibit the growth, whereas the amino glycoside antibiotics are bactericidal, they killed them. So these are very broad spectrum. Tetracycline is probably like, when I think of broad spectrum antibiotics, this is what I think of, the one that's a very, very broad spectrum, but which means it's been, had lots of uses, but also lots of abuses. So we'll come back to that in a moment. When would you use this? So I would say that the key thing that sets this antibiotic apart is it's useful against intracellular bacteria, right? So viruses are intracellular pathogens, but there also are some small bacteria that are intracellular pathogens as well. Plamydia, the rickettsias, which cause like what Rocky Mounted Spotted Fever, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, typhus, these types of things. So there are several pathogens that like to hide inside, salmonella can do it, that like to hide inside of our cells. So tetracycline appears to be more effective at getting these intracellular pathogens killed, but the broad, broad spectrum of tetracycline is, is why it can lead to what are called superinfection. So I've, I've used the word super bug several times in this series. Super bugs are multi-drug resistant organisms that are resistant to at least two types of antibiotics. Superinfections are different. They're secondary infections. But instead of getting a secondary infection because you're immunocompromised, you get a secondary infection because of the antibiotic. So the antibiotic actually wipes out the protective organisms we have, which leads to a secondary infection. So the two textbook examples of superinfections that, that can occur with other antibiotics, but tetracycline is just the first one that comes to my mind would be Candida albicans or yeast infections. So you, you kill off the bacteria, the yeast takeover or C. diff. So clostridium difficile is a spore forming bacteria. So when you use antibiotics, you kill off a lot of its competition. So it will sprout up and become a problem. All right. So we talked about how their bacteria static and their broad spectrum already. We talked about how they work. They've been around since the, the forties when they were first, first discovered. So what doxycycline would be a good example. That's probably the main one that I would think of. All right. There, there are reasons not to use these like any other antibiotic. There are some toxicity concerns and there are some potential side effects. The, the liver would be something tooth discoloration would be one that comes to mind, but and then liver and kidney issues. But all right. So that is your tetracycline antibiotics like tetracycline, doxycycline, et cetera. And I hope this helps have a wonderful day. Be blessed.