science

Furazolidone

Furazolidone is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Furazolidone rather than just read about it. In short: Furazolidone is a nitrofuran antibacterial agent and monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI). It is marketed by Roberts Laboratories under the brand name Furoxone and by GlaxoSmithKline as Dependal-M.

Key takeaways

Furazolidone belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Furazolidone to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Furazolidone from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Furazolidone is a nitrofuran antibacterial agent and monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI). It is marketed by Roberts Laboratories under the brand name Furoxone and by GlaxoSmithKline as Dependal-M.

Medical uses Furazolidone has been used in human and veterinary medicine. It has a broad spectrum of activity, being active against:

Gram-positive bacteria Clostridium perfringens Corynebacterium pyogenes Streptococci Staphylococci Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli Salmonella dublin Salmonella typhimurium Shigella Protozoa Giardia lamblia Eimeria species Histomonas meleagridis

Use in humans In humans, it has been used to treat diarrhoea and enteritis caused by bacterial or protozoan infections, including traveler's diarrhoea, cholera, and bacteremic salmonellosis. In 2002, a journal article suggested its use in treatment of H. pylori infections in children. Furazolidone has also been used for giardiasis (due to Giardia lamblia), amoebiasis, and shigellosis, although it is not a first-line treatment. From the early 1970s, it has been used in China to treat peptic ulcers, where the mechanism is treatment of the causative Helicobacter pylori infection.

Use in animals As a veterinary medicine, furazolidone has been used with some success to treat salmonids for Myxobolus cerebralis infections. It has also been used in aquaculture. Since furazolidone is a nitrofuran antibiotic, its use in food animals is currently prohibited by the FDA under the Animal Medicinal Drug Use Clarification Act, 1994. Furazolidone is no longer available in the US.

Use in laboratory It is used to differentiate micrococci and staphylococci.

Mechanism of action It is believed to work by crosslinking of DNA.

Side effects Though an effective antibiotic when all others fail, against extremely drug resistant infections, it has many side effects. including inhibition of monoamine oxidase, and as with other nitrofurans generally, minimum inhibitory concentrations also produce systemic toxicity, resulting in tremors, convulsions, peripheral neuritis, gastrointestinal disturbances, and depression of spermatogenesis. Nitrofurans are recognized by FDA as mutagens/carcinogens, and can no longer be used in food-producing animals in the United States as of 1991.

See also Nitrofurazone Nitrofurantoin Norwich Pharmacal Co. & Others v Customs and Excise Commissioners Peptic ulcers and Helicobacter pylori

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Furazolidone

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Furazolidone claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Furazolidone before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Furazolidone ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Furazolidone

In research: Furazolidone appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Furazolidone in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Furazolidone is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2-Oxazolidinones, Acetaldehyde dehydrogenase inhibitors, Antibiotics, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Furazolidone outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Furazolidone” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Furazolidone in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Furazolidone means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Furazolidone out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Furazolidone in simple terms?

Furazolidone is a nitrofuran antibacterial agent and monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI). It is marketed by Roberts Laboratories under the brand name Furoxone and by GlaxoSmithKline as Dependal-M.

Why does Furazolidone matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Furazolidone?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Furazolidone.