tetracycline Pharm.
(tɛtrəˈsaɪkliːn)
[f. tetracyclic a. + -ine5.]
a. A tetracyclic compound, C22H24N2O8, which is a broad-spectrum antibiotic (usu. administered as the hydrochloride). b. Any of a number of antibiotics structurally related to this compound.
| 1952 C. R. Stephens et al. in Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. LXXIV. 4977/1 Common to both Terramycin and aureo⁓mycin is the structure A for which we propose the name tetracycline. 1956 Nature 3 Mar. 433/2 (heading) Avidity of the tetracyclines for the cations of metals. Ibid., This investigation is now extended to the parent substance, tetracycline,..[and] also includes some new values for the substituted tetracyclines. 1966 I. Jefferies House-Surgeon vi. 115 Start her on one of the tetracyclines. 1974 M. C. Gerald Pharmacol. xxvi. 457 Tetracyclines are believed to inhibit protein synthesis by blocking the binding of the amino acid-transfer RNA complex to ribosomes. 1978 Time 3 July 43/2 Like almost all U.S. farmers, the cattleman is aggrieved... The costs of everything he buys—gasoline, fertilizer, tetracycline for ailing heifers..—have climbed like corn in August. |