chemistry

Tylosin

Tylosin is a chemistry 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 Tylosin rather than just read about it. In short: Tylosin is a macrolide antibiotic and bacteriostatic feed additive used in veterinary medicine. It has a broad spectrum of activity against Gram-positive organisms and a limited range of Gram-negative organisms.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Tylosin is a macrolide antibiotic and bacteriostatic feed additive used in veterinary medicine. It has a broad spectrum of activity against Gram-positive organisms and a limited range of Gram-negative organisms. It is found naturally as a fermentation product of Streptomyces fradiae. Tylosin is used in veterinary medicine to treat bacterial infections in a wide range of species and has a high margin of safety. It has also been used as a growth promotant in some species, and as a treatment for colitis in companion animals.

Mode of action Like other macrolides, tylosin has a bacteriostatic effect on susceptible organisms, caused by inhibition of protein synthesis through binding to the 50S subunit of the bacterial ribosome.

Spectrum of activity Tylosin has a wide spectrum of activity against Gram-positive bacteria including Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Corynebacterium, and Erysipelothrix. It has a much narrower Gram-negative spectrum of activity, but has been shown to be active against Campylobacter coli, and certain spirochaetes. It has also been shown to be extremely active against Mycoplasma species isolated from both mammalian and avian hosts. The following represents MIC susceptibility data for a few medically significant pathogens:

Mycoplasma bovis: 0.06 - 4 μg/ml Staphylococcus aureus: 0.5 - >128 μg/ml

Clinical use Tylosin has been used to treat a variety of different diseases throughout the world. Differing formulations and licensing conditions mean it may not be a recognized method of treatment for certain conditions in certain countries. In general, tylosin is licensed for the treatment of infections caused by organisms susceptible to the drug, but it has also been used as a treatment of colitis in small animals, as a growth promotant in food-producing animals, and as a way of reducing epiphora (tear staining) around the eyes of white-faced dogs. In these cases, the result is positive only when using the tylosin in the form of tartrate, a chelating porphyrin. No marketing authority exists for the use of other tylosin forms as a tear-stain remover, thus it is not legal to use it for such purposes; the exception is as a prescription-only medicine of last resort by veterinarians under the cascading rule (UK) or the extra-label use rule (US). Examples of bacterial infections that could potentially be treated with tylosin include respiratory infections, metritis, and acute mastitis in cattle; mastitis in sheep and goats; enteritis, pneumonia, erysipelas, and infectious arthritis in swine; and soft-tissue infections in small animals. While tylosin may be one appropriate therapeutic choice in theory for the conditions listed above, many other antibiotics may be preferable for treating a specific infection, and tylosin will not be the first choice. It is also used as a growth promoter for a variety of terrestrial and aquatic animals grown for human consumption.

Available forms Tylosin is available in injectable, intramammary, and oral formulations with different product ranges available in different countries.

Composition Tylosin is a mixture of four major components: tylosins A, B, C, and D. Tylosin A is considered the major component of tylosin (comprises about 90% of tylosin); however, tylosins B, C, and D contribute to the overall potency of tylosin.

Precautions and contraindications Administration of tylosin should be avoided in animals with a known hypersensitivity to the product, or to other macrolides. Oral administration can result in diarrhoea and gastrointestinal disturbance. This is particularly true of horses, such that it can be fatal. Tylosin also has a foul taste that is difficult to disguise. The injectable formulations of tylosin can cause pain, inflammation, and itchiness around the injection site. Since tylosin has a relatively poor spectrum of activity against Gram-negative organisms, it may not be a sensible therapeutic choice in the treatment of infections caused by unknown, potentially unsusceptible organisms.

Drug interactions Tylosin may increase digitalis blood levels, thus its toxicity, and may be antagonistic to chloramphenicol or lincosamides. Colorimetric assays of serum ALT and AST may be falsely elevated by macrolide antibiotics.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Tylosin

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Tylosin claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, 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 Tylosin 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 Tylosin 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 Tylosin

In research: Tylosin appears in chemistry 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 Tylosin 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: Tylosin is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Dimethylamino compounds, Macrolide antibiotics, Sixteen-membered rings, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Tylosin 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 “Tylosin” →

Affiliate

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

How to study Tylosin in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Tylosin 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 Tylosin out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tylosin in simple terms?

Why does Tylosin matter?

Because it connects several chemistry 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 Tylosin?

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 Tylosin.