Antibiotic Chart: Drug Names, Coverage, and Mechanism of Action
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Antibiotic Chart
By definition, antibiotics are medications used to fight bacterial infections.
Common uses include urinary tract infections (UTIs), strep throat (pharyngitis), pneumonia, ear infections (otitis media), some sinus infections (sinusitis), and much more.
There are many different classes of antibiotics including penicillins, cephalosporins, tetracyclines, macrolides, fluoroquinolones, aminoglycosides, sulfonamides, carbapenems, lincosamides, and glycopeptides.
In this post, we will use the below chart and mnemonic to discuss the different antibiotic classes along with their gram coverage, mechanism of action (how they work), drug names, and example uses.
We will continue to make antibiotic pharmacology easy with 3 simple tricks to help you remember the drug names, gram coverage, and mechanism of action of each class!
Let’s get started!
Don’t Miss Out!
For a simple trick to remember the medications names in each antibiotic class, click the EZmed link below!
Image: Use the above mnemonic and chart to remember the main antibiotic classes along with their drug names, coverage, mechanism of action, and uses.
Antibiotic Class Mnemonic
There are 10 main classes of antibiotics that we will discuss in this post.
They include aminoglycosides, cephalosporins, tetracyclines, penicillins, sulfonamides, fluoroquinolones, macrolides, carbapenems, lincosamides, and glycopeptides.
You can use the following EZmed mnemonic to remember these main classes:
“Antibiotics Can Terminate Protein Synthesis For Microbial Cells Like Germs”.
This mnemonic is useful because it not only helps you remember the main antibiotic classes, but it also reminds you that inhibition of protein synthesis is the mechanism of action for many antibiotics (more on this later).
Image: Use the above mnemonic to remember the 10 main antibiotic classes.
“Antibiotics Can Terminate Protein Synthesis For Microbial Cells Like Germs”
Antibiotics = Aminoglycosides
Can = Cephalosporins
Terminate = Tetracyclines
Protein = Penicillins
Synthesis = Sulfonamides
For = Fluoroquinolones
Microbial = Macrolides
Cells = Carbapenems
Like = Lincosamides
Germs = Glycopeptides
Antibiotic Classes
We’re now going to walk through the mnemonic and discuss the drug names, coverage, mechanism of action, and example indications for each class.
You can use the table below as a reference!
Image: From left to right column: Mnemonic, Antibiotic Class, Example Drug Names, Gram Coverage, Mechanism of Action, Example Uses
Aminoglycosides
Drug Names: Examples of aminoglycosides include streptomycin and gentamicin. These drug names typically end in “mycin/micin”.
Gram Coverage: Aminoglycosides primarily cover aerobic gram-negative bacteria and do not cover anaerobes. While they are particularly active against gram-negatives, they can act synergistically against certain gram-positive organisms.
Mechanism of Action: Aminoglycosides inhibit protein synthesis.
Ribosomes function to synthesize proteins in cells, and bacterial ribosomes are made up of a 30s and 50s subunit.
Aminoglycosides bind to the 30s ribosomal subunit of bacteria thereby disrupting protein synthesis (human ribosomes have a 40s and 60s subunit and are not affected by the antibiotic as a result).
Example Indications: Aminoglycosides are highly potent, broad-spectrum antibiotics and can be used for bacteremia, intra-abdominal infections, and other life-threatening infections that may progress to shock if untreated.
Cephalosporins
Drug Names: Examples of cephalosporins include ceftriaxone and cefepime. These drug names typically begin with “cef/ceph”.
Gram Coverage: Cephalosporins cover both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.
Mechanism of Action: Cephalosporins inhibit cell wall synthesis.
Peptidoglycan is a major component of bacterial cell walls and is necessary to maintain the cell wall integrity.
Peptidoglycan synthesis is facilitated by penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs).
Cephalosporins (along with penicillins and carbapenems) contain a beta-lactam ring in their structure and are classified as beta-lactam antibiotics as a result.
Beta-lactam antibiotics bind to, and inhibit, PBPs thereby preventing peptidoglycan synthesis and cross-linking. As a result, the bacterial cell wall is disrupted.
Example Indications: Cephalosporins can be used for skin, urinary, and respiratory infections among others.
There are 5 generations of cephalosporin medications based on their spectrum of coverage.
For a simple trick to remember which medications are in each generation, check out the following EZmed post! “Cephalosporin Generations Made Easy”
For the simple “arrow trick” to remember the coverage of each cephalosporin generation check out the following EZmed post! “Cephalosporin Coverage Made Easy”
Tetracyclines
Drug Names: Examples of tetracyclines include tetracycline and doxycycline. These drug names usually end in “cycline”.
Gram Coverage: Tetracyclines cover both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.
Mechanism of Action: Tetracyclines are similar to aminoglycosides in that they inhibit protein synthesis, specifically by binding to the 30s subunit of the bacterial ribosome.
Example Indications: Tetracyclines can be used for Lyme disease, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), and some sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among others.
Penicillins
Drug Names: Examples of penicillins include ampicillin and amoxicillin. These drug names typically end in “cillin”.
Gram Coverage: Penicillins cover both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, especially the later generation penicillins.
Mechanism of Action: Penicillins are beta-lactam antibiotics, and therefore they inhibit cell wall synthesis similar to cephalosporins.
Example Indications: Penicillins can be used for various ear, nose, throat (ENT), skin, and urinary infections among others.
Later generations can also be used for intra-abdominal infections such as gallbladder/biliary infections among others.
Sulfonamides
Drug Names: Examples of sulfonamides include sulfasalazine (can be used as an anti-inflammatory) and sulfamethoxazole. These drug names typically begin with “sulfa”.
Gram Coverage: Sulfonamides cover both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.
Mechanism of Action: Sulfonamides inhibit folate synthesis.
Bacteria have the unique ability to generate their own folate, whereas humans must obtain folate from their diet.
Therefore, sulfonamides act on this unique bacterial function by inhibiting folate synthesis.
Example Indications: Sulfonamides can be used for burns, eye infections, and urinary tract infections (UTIs) among others.
Fluoroquinolones
Drug Names: Examples of fluoroquinolones include ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin. These drug names typically end in “floxacin”.
Gram Coverage: Fluoroquinolones cover both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.
Mechanism of Action: Fluoroquinolones inhibit DNA synthesis and replication.
They inhibit enzymes such as DNA gyrase and topoisomerase, and DNA is unable to unwind and/or replicate as a result.
Example Indications: Fluoroquinolones can be used for respiratory and urinary infections among others.
Macrolides
Drug Names: Examples of macrolides include azithromycin and erythromycin. These drug names typically end in “thromycin”.
Gram Coverage: Macrolides cover primarily gram-positive bacteria, with some gram-negative coverage.
Mechanism of Action: Macrolides inhibit protein synthesis.
However, rather than binding to the 30s subunit of bacterial ribosomes (like we saw with aminoglycosides and tetracyclines), macrolides bind to the 50s subunit.
Example Indications: Macrolides can be used for pneumonia, sinusitis, ENT infections, and STIs among others.
Carbapenems
Drug Names: Examples of carbapenems include meropenem and ertapenem. These drug names typically end in “penem”.
Gram Coverage: Carbapenems cover both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.
Mechanism of Action: Carbapenems inhibit cell wall synthesis similar to cephalosporins and penicillins as they are also beta-lactam antibiotics.
Example Indications: Carbapenems are broad-spectrum antibiotics and can be used for urinary and abdominal infections among others.
Appendicitis, especially if complicated (perforated, abscess, etc), is one example in which carbapenems could be used.
Lincosamides
Drug Names: Examples of lincosamides include clindamycin, lincomycin, and pirlimycin. Some of these drug names, but not all, end in “mycin”.
Gram Coverage: Lincosamides primarily cover gram-positive bacteria as they are unable to pass through the outer membrane of gram-negative organisms.
Mechanism of Action: Lincosamides inhibit protein synthesis, specifically by targeting the 50s subunit of the bacterial ribosome as we saw with macrolides.
Example Indications: Lincosamides can be used for skin, bone, and lung infections among others.
Glycopeptides
Drug Names: Vancomycin is an example of a glycopeptide. Most of these drug names end in “in” with some ending in “mycin”.
Gram Coverage: Glycopeptides primarily cover gram-positive bacteria as they are large and cannot pass through the porin channels found in the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria.
Mechanism of Action: Glycopeptides inhibit cell wall synthesis.
Example Indications: Glycopeptides can be used for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), skin infections, and endocarditis among others.
Drug Name Trick
Now that we have discussed the main antibiotic classes, let’s learn some tricks to remember the information!
The first trick will help you remember the drug names within each antibiotic class as most of the medications share similar prefixes and/or suffixes.
**While this trick applies to most drug names within each class there may be a few exceptions.
Aminoglycosides = end in “mycin”
Cephalosporins = begin with “cef/ceph”
Tetracyclines = end in “cycline”
Penicillins = end in “cillin”
Sulfonamides = begin with “sulfa”
Fluoroquinolones = end in “floxacin”
Macrolides = end in “thromycin”
Carbapenems = end in “penem”
Lincosamides = end in “mycin”
Glycopeptides = end in “in/mycin”
Aminoglycosides, lincosamides, and glycopeptides can all end in “mycin” so be careful with those.
Image: Use the above trick to remember the drug names in each antibiotic class.
Gram Coverage Trick
The next trick is to help you remember the gram coverage for each antibiotic class.
Gram-Positive and Gram-Negative Coverage
All but 4 of the antibiotic classes cover both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.
Therefore, if you remember those 4 classes, then you will know the others will cover both gram-positive and gram-negative organisms.
Below are some tricks to remember what those classes are.
Specific Coverage Classes
The 4 classes that have specific gram coverage include glycopeptides, lincosamides, aminoglycosides, and macrolides.
There are a couples ways to remember these 4 classes.
First, you can use the acronym “GLAM” to remember Glycopeptides, Lincosamides, Aminoglycosides, and Macrolides.
Second, these 4 antibiotic classes end in “ide”, so you can use the class suffix to remember they have specific gram coverage.
***If you use this second method be careful with sulfonamides, as this class name also has the suffix “ides”, but they cover both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.
If this confuses you, then simply use the acronym GLAM instead.
Gram-Negative Coverage Only
Aminoglycosides primarily cover gram-negative bacteria (with some minor exceptions against gram-positives, especially when used synergistically).
The word amiNOglycoside has the word “NO” in it. No is a negative response which will help you remember gram-negative.
Gram-Positive Coverage Only
The other 3 classes (glycopeptides, lincosamides, and macrolides) primarily cover gram-positive bacteria only (with macrolides having minor gram-negative coverage as well).
Remember lincosamides and glycopeptides have difficulty passing through the outer membrane of gram-negative organisms.
“GLAM” = Special Classes
AmiNOglycosides = Gram (-) = “NO”
Cephalosporins = Gram (+)/(-)
Tetracyclines = Gram (+)/(-)
Penicillins = Gram (+)/(-)
Sulfonamides = Gram (+)/(-)
Fluoroquinolones = Gram (+)/(-)
Macrolides = Gram (+)
Carbapenems = Gram (+)/(-)
Lincosamides = Gram (+)
Glycopeptides = Gram (+)
Image: You can use the acronym “GLAM” to remember Glycopeptides, Lincosamides, Aminoglycosides, and Macrolides have specific gram coverage (with minor exceptions discussed above).
Mechanism of Action Trick
Lastly, there is a trick to remember the mechanism of action of each class.
There are 4 main mechanisms of action:
Inhibition of folate synthesis
Inhibition of DNA replication/synthesis
Inhibition of protein synthesis
Inhibition of cell wall synthesis
Inhibit Folate Synthesis
Sulfonamides are the main class to inhibit folate synthesis.
This can be remembered because both sulFOnamide and FOlate contain “FO”.
Inhibit DNA Replication
Fluoroquinolones are the main class to inhibit DNA replication/synthesis.
Think of quintuplets as having identical copies of DNA (DNA replication).
Use the “QUIN” in fluoroQUINolones and QUINtuplets to help you remember DNA replication inhibition.
Inhibit Protein Synthesis
Macrolides, aminoglycosides, lincosamides, and tetracyclines all inhibit protein synthesis.
Use the acronym “MALT” and think of malt powder that is sometimes found in “protein” shakes.
This will help you remember Macrolides, Aminoglycosides, Lincosamides, and Tetracyclines (MALT) inhibit protein synthesis.
Inhibition Cell Wall Synthesis
Lastly, through process of elimination the final 4 antibiotic classes inhibit cell wall synthesis: cephalosporins, penicillins, carbapenems, and glycopeptides.
Aminoglycosides = Inhibit protein synthesis “MALT”
Cephalosporins = Inhibit cell wall synthesis
Tetracyclines = Inhibit protein synthesis “MALT”
Penicillins = Inhibit cell wall synthesis
SulFOnamides = Inhibit FOlate synthesis = “FO”
FluoroQUINolones = Inhibit DNA replication = QUINtuplets
Macrolides = Inhibit protein synthesis “MALT”
Carbapenems = Inhibit cell wall synthesis
Lincosamides = Inhibit protein synthesis “MALT”
Glycopeptides = Inhibit cell wall synthesis
Image: You can use the above tricks to remember the mechanism of action for each antibiotic class.
Conclusion
Hopefully this was a good overview of the main antibiotic classes, as well as useful mnemonics and tricks to remember the drug names, gram coverage, and mechanism of action of each class!
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