Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2005 Jul 29;57(10):1486-513.
doi: 10.1016/j.addr.2005.04.004.

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics: active efflux and reduced uptake

Ayush Kumar  1 , Herbert P Schweizer
Affiliations
Review

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics: active efflux and reduced uptake

Ayush Kumar et al. Adv Drug Deliv Rev. .

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance of bacterial pathogens is a fast emerging global crisis and an understanding of the underlying resistance mechanisms is paramount for design and development of new therapeutic strategies. Permeability barriers for and active efflux of drug molecules are two resistance mechanisms that have been implicated in various infectious outbreaks of antibiotic-resistant pathogens, suggesting that these mechanisms may be good targets for new drugs. The synergism of reduced uptake and efflux is most evident in the multiplicative action of the outer membrane permeability barrier and active efflux, which results in high-level intrinsic and/or acquired resistance in many clinically important Gram-negative bacteria. This review summarizes the current knowledge of these two important resistance mechanisms and potential strategies to overcome them. Recent advances in understanding the physical structures, function and regulation of efflux systems will facilitate exploitation of pumps as new drug targets.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances