Ambazone is an oral

antiseptic An antiseptic (from Greek ἀντί ''anti'', "against" and σηπτικός ''sēptikos'', "putrefactive") is an antimicrobial substance or compound that is applied to living tissue/skin to reduce the possibility of infection, sepsis, or putre ...

. Ambazon was patented in 1957 by

Bayer Bayer AG (, commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer's areas of busi ...

under the trade name Iversal, and briefly used in Germany. It is still used in Russia, countries of the former Soviet Union, Poland and Romania. It has not been approved by the United States

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...

(FDA).

Synthesis

Ambazone can be obtained in a two step synthetic method, reacting 1,4-benzoquinone with aminoguanidine and thiosemicarbazide. Ambazone synthesis01

Obtaining a pharmaceutical grade material is difficult due to high amounts of by-products, synthetic intermediates and decomposition products.

Applications

Bacteriostatic A bacteriostatic agent or bacteriostat, abbreviated Bstatic, is a biological or chemical agent that stops bacteria from reproducing, while not necessarily killing them otherwise. Depending on their application, bacteriostatic antibiotics, disinfect ...

action on

hemolytic streptococcus ''Streptococcus pyogenes'' is a species of Gram-positive, aerotolerant bacteria in the genus ''Streptococcus''. These bacteria are extracellular, and made up of non-motile and non-sporing cocci (round cells) that tend to link in chains. They are ...

, ''

Streptococcus pneumoniae ''Streptococcus pneumoniae'', or pneumococcus, is a Gram-positive, spherical bacteria, alpha-hemolytic (under aerobic conditions) or beta-hemolytic (under anaerobic conditions), aerotolerant anaerobic member of the genus Streptococcus. They are ...

'' and

viridans streptococci The viridans streptococci are a large group of commensal streptococcal Gram-positive bacteria species that are α-hemolytic, producing a green coloration on blood agar plates (hence the name "viridans", from Latin "vĭrĭdis", green), although so ...

Physical properties

Through experimental testing ambazone has shown

properties, along with anti-tumor properties. Ambazone has the following physical characteristics. Ambazone is prepared by way of solid based crystallization or grinding.

Mode of action

The mode of action for ambazone has been studied extensively and has been shown to react via different methods. Ambazone shows low

mutagenic In genetics, a mutagen is a physical or chemical agent that permanently changes genetic material, usually DNA, in an organism and thus increases the frequency of mutations above the natural background level. As many mutations can cause cancer in ...

activity and no cardiovascular, CNS, metabolic, or gastrointestinal

side-effects In medicine, a side effect is an effect, whether therapeutic or adverse, that is secondary to the one intended; although the term is predominantly employed to describe adverse effects, it can also apply to beneficial, but unintended, consequence ...

with I.V. doses up to 10-5 mol/kg and oral doses up to 10-3 mol/kg. Ambazone can be administered via oral or I.V. administration, but the problem with oral administration is that one experimental study shows there is only a 35–50% absorption while another study shows 40% in the intestines; These results would tend to lead the reader to think that ambazone would not be the best choice for treatment, because with such a low absorbance, there is going to have to be a greater concentration ingested to gain a positive effect from the drug. The problem with a greater concentration is that ambazone has a half-life of 6–7 hours. It was stated above that ambazone possess no CNS side-effects due to the fact, that it will not cross the blood brain barrier. Although this is the body’s way of protecting unwanted substances from attacking the brain, this also limits the treatment of brain tumors with ambazone.

References

{{Stomatological preparations Antiseptics Antibiotics Guanidines Thioureas Thiosemicarbazone