The antibacterial action of some stilbene derivatives

Abstract

Early types of antibacterial substances were not specifically antibacterial, but were usually toxic to all living cells, and were of value only in so far as they could be employed without serious damage to the host. The search for more suitable antibacterial agents resulted in the preparation and testing of many substances of widely different constitution, and it was from the empirical yet systematic investigations of one such class of chrysoidine dyestuff that knowledge of the activity of sulphanilamide arose. The growing evidence that the antibacterial action of sulphanilyl drugs was due to competition with an enzymic metabolic process suggested to Fildes [1940] a new approach to the problem. This was the design of antibacterial agents by the synthesis of compounds with a close spatial resemblance to substances vital to, or closely associated with, bacterial growth and reproduction. These growth substances include the water-soluble vitamins of the animal world, which now appear to be essential to the life of all growing cells. The method has been recently used in a sufficiently diverse series of independent investigations to confirm the principle [Mcflwain, 1943]. Other compounds which exert a pronounced physiological activity in minute concentration are the animal hormones related to cyclopentanophenanthrene; for example, oestradiol, when injected into an ovariectomized rat of 50 g. body weight in a dose of 02 jig., is capable of doubling the weight of the uterus; with a blood volume of 2 ml., this represents an activity at a concentration of 1 in 107. These compounds are not known to be hormones for the vegetable kingdom, but they are widely distributed in nature and are probably constituents of all growing cells, being found in all plants and bacteria [Aschheimn & Hohlweg, 1933], as well as in all animals. It seems to us that these compounds can readily be incorporated into the living cell, and that such molecules constitute suitable material

The effect of unsaturated fatty acids on Lactobacillus helveticus and other Gram-positive micro-organisms

“…In confirmation of the observations of Faulkner (1943) and Brownlee, Copp, Duffin & Tonkin-(1943) on other Gram-positive bacteria, we found that both diethyl stilboestrol and hexoestrol, in amounts of 160,ug./10 ml., inhibited the growth of L. helveticus. The action of these compounds could not be reversed by the addition of lecithin or cholesterol.…”

Structure‐function activity of azasterols and nitrogen‐containing steroids

“…An extensive interest in the antifungal property of gonadal hormones probably originated in clinical preoccupation with the influence of pregnancy and menstruation on the incidence in severity of infectious diseases in man. As early as 1935 estrogens were reported to have antibacterial activity (7)(8)(9). There is now considerable evidence that a large number of steroids have antimicrobial effects in vitro on bacteria, molds, yeasts and protozoa (see reference 5 and 6 for review).…”

The Ability of Soil Microorganisms to Decompose Steroids

“…Anthracene, 1,2-benzanthracene, and phenanthrene at 0.1 per cent levels and cyclohexane and benzene vapors were generally unsatisfactory. At 0.1 per cent, stilbestrol, reportedtobe antibacterial by Brownlee et al (1943), allowed no growth.…”