BIOLOGY

PROJECT
2023-2024
St. Paul School. CBSE.
Dhamna
Prepared By:
Anushree Solanki

Assigned By:
Sonu Rathod sir
 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Anushree Solanki of
class XII have successfully completed the project
work on study on “Effects of antibiotics on
microorganisms” of Biology practical
examination of central board of secondary
education[CBSE] in year 2023-2024.

It is further certified that this project is the

authentic work of indivisual candidate

signature
signature signature
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my special thanks to
my Biology teacher Mr. Sonu Rathod sir
and management for their able guidance
and support in completing my project

I would like to extend my gratitude towards

principal Mr. Prabhakar Dhargave for
providing all the facilities that was required.

This project helped me in doing lot of

research and I came to know about so many
new things.

Hence I would like to thanks all the above

mentioned once again for helping me
throughout and completing the project
 Index
1. Introduction On antibiotics
2. How does antibiotics work?
3. Why are antibiotics important?
4. Resistance
5. Experiment
6. Observation
7 Conclusion
8. Bibliography
 Antibiotics
Antibiotics are a class of medications that are used to treat
bacterial infections. They work by either killing bacteria or
inhibiting their growth, thus helping the body's immune
system to overcome the infection.
Antibiotics are designed to target specific types of bacteria
without affecting human cells. They exploit the differences
in the structure and function of bacterial cells compared to
human cells.
Antibiotics are effective only against bacterial infections, not
viral infections. They cannot treat illnesses such as the common
cold or flu. Viral infections are typically treated with antiviral
medications.
Ongoing research is focused on the discovery of new antibiotics
and alternative approaches to combat bacterial infections. This
is crucial to stay ahead of emerging antibiotic-resistant strains
of bacteria and to address the growing global health threat of
antimicrobial resistance.
Overuse or misuse of antibiotics can lead to the
development of antibiotic resistance. This occurs when
bacteria evolve and become less responsive to the effects
of antibiotics, making infections more difficult to treat.
 How does
antibiotics work ?

Antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections.

Antibiotics take advantage of the difference between the
structure of the bacterial cell and the host’s cell. They either
prevent the bacterial cells from multiplying so that the
bacterial population remains the same, allowing the host
defence mechanism to fight the infection or kill the bacteria,
for example stopping the mechanism responsible for building
their cell walls. An antibiotic can also be classified according
to the range of pathogens against which it is effective.
Penicillin G will destroy only a few species of bacteria and is
known as a narrows spectrum antibiotic. Tetracycline is
effective against a wide range of organisms and is known as
a broad spectrum antibiotic.
ANTIBIOTICS
why are they
important?

The introduction of antibiotics into medicine revolutionalised

the way infectious diseases were treated. Between 1945 and
1972, average human life expectancy jumped by eight years,
with antibiotics used to treat infections that were previously
likely to kill patients. Today, antibiotics are one of the most
common classes of drugs used in medicine and make possible
many of the complex surgeries that have become routine
around the world. If we ran out of effective antibiotics, modern
medicine would be set back by decades. Relatively minor
surgeries, such as appendectomies, could become life
threatening, as they were before antibiotics became widely
available. Antibiotics are sometimes used in a limited numbers
of patients before surgery to ensure that patients do not
contract any infections from bacteria entering open cuts.
Without this precaution, the risk of blood poisoning would be
come much higher, and many of the more complex surgeries
doctors now perform may not be possible.
 resistance

Bacteria are termed drug-resistant when they are no longer

inhibited by an antibiotic to which they were previously sensitive.
The emergence and spread of antibacterial-resistant bacteria
has continued to grow due to both the over-use and misuse of
antibiotics. Treating a patient with antibiotics causes the
microbes to adapt or die; this is known as ‘selective pressure’. If a
strain of a bacterial species acquires resistance to an antibiotic,
it will survive the treatment. As the bacterial cell with acquired
resistance multiplies, this resistance is passed on to its offspring.
In ideal conditions some bacterial cells can divide every 20
minutes; therefore after only 8 hours in excess of 16 million
bacterial cells carrying resistance to that antibiotic could exist.

Antibiotic resistance can either be inherent or acquired. Some

bacteria are naturally resistant to some antibiotics due to their
physiological characteristics. This is inherent resistance.
Acquired resistance occurs when a bacterium that was originally
sensitive to an antibiotic develops resistance. For example
resistance genes can be transferred from one plasmid to another
plasmid or chromosome, or resistance can occur due to a random
spontaneous chromosomal mutation.
 EXPERIMENT
AIM : To see the effect of antibiotics on bacteria count.
MATERIAL 10 test-tubes of sterilized water
10 PCA(Agar) plates
REQUIRED :
Bunsen burner
graduated cylinder
Ethanol (Used for sterilizing. Just
flame is enough in most cases)
glass hockey stick
pipettes
refrigerator
incubator (A warm cabinet for growing
bacteria)
microwave
scale
large beaker
hot plate
Sample antibiotic
PROCEDURE:
Step 1: prepare a culture media plate for growing bacteria

Step 2: Get a sample of polluted water for test. Mix 2 ml of polluted water
with 10 ml chicken broth in a test tube and incubate it for 24 hours so
the bacteria will reproduce and increase. Usually this is done on a
device that constantly moves, so the bacteria can freely move in the
liquid. Most likely you will not have a vibrator, so it is good if you
shake the test tube a few times during this incubation period.
Step 3: While the bacteria are being incubated, prepare some antibiotic disks
asdescribed here. (Antibiotic disks can also be purchased from
biologysuppliers).Break an antibiotic capsule (I used Ampicilin)and
empty the contents in a clean petri-dish.One capsule will be enough
for hundreds ofdisks.Dispose of the plastic shell and add a few
dropsof water to the remaining powder. Cut somefilter papers in
small pieces and soak them inthe antibiotic solution. Let the disks dry
in aclean space. You may cover them with anotherfilter paper to
protect them from dust.
Although they are known as antibiotic disks,you can cut them in small
squares.The reason that we use filter paper, is thatother papers often
have starch and otherpolymers that may affect the results of
ourexperiments. Filter paper is pure cellulosefiber.

Step 4 :Use the bacteria that you grown in step 2 and prepare dilution
ofbacteria.
1.Prepare 1:10 dilution of the sample. To do this, take 2 mL of the
sample andblend it with 18 mL of distilled water.
2.Pipette 0.1ml of each dilution onto a Plates Count Agar (PCA) plate
3.Take a glass hockey stick submersed in ethanol and run it through a
flame tosterilize it.(Glass hockey stick is a glass rod bent on one end
like a hockeystick. It is used to spread bacteria on the surface of agar
plate. You may usea steel spoon instead.)
4.Let it cool and use it to spread dilution around the plate
5.Do this on two plates for each of the five different dilutions.
6.Place an antibiotic disk on the plate of dilution.
7.incubate the plate at 35 degrees Celsius for 24 hours and then count
thebacterial colonies.
8.take 3 nutrient agar plate and added 0.5 ml of the solution on each
ofplates. I left one plate without any antibiotics, placed one antibiotic
disk onthe second plate and two antibiotic disk on the third plate. All
plates wereincubated for 48 hours.
OBSERVATION
 CONCLUSION
The growth of bacteria around the
antibiotic disks is less. Inhibition
zones are more in the plates with
more antibiotic disks. Hence,
antibiotics stop proliferation of
bacteria.
 Bibliography
Biology Practical Manual
www.wikipedia.com
Ncert biology Book