Antimicrobials and Drug Resistance

Selective toxicity

Selective toxicity  means the injuring of one kind of living matter without harming some other kind ,even though the two are in intimate contact. Toxicosis potential is usually determined more by the multitude of related factors than by actual toxicity of the toxicant. Mechanisms of staphylococcal  enterotoxin-induced emesis. Tetanospasmin  is one of the most powerful neurotoxins known. The tetanospasmin toxin is a zinc-dependent metalloproteinase others like botulinum toxin has high specificity and irreversible effects. Host cell with selective toxicity can be seen in E.coli, HIV and Influenza toxins etc. There are topical antibiotics  to deal with topical antimicrobial toxicity which are directly applied to cultured human fibroblasts  which quantitatively assess their cytotoxicity.