Some Observations on the Mode of Action of Penicillin

Abstract

THE effects of a toxic be substance upon a cell are not instantances. There is always a course of events leading up to the changes, reversible or otherwise, which are imposed upon the organisation of the normal cell by a toxic substance. The action generally occurs in two stages. In the first stage, the toxic fact or reacts with certain components of the cell. In the second, and from some points of view more important stage, the organisation of the cell changes because of the impairment of function of the components directly affected by the toxic factor. The second stage does not, of course, occur until the activities of the cell involve the operation of the components of which the function is impaired ; and so it may readily happen that only when the cell is disturbed from a state of rest does the action of a toxic substance become apparent or lethal.