how does penicillin uses osmosis to destroy bacteria in the human body?

Question

penicillin kills bacteria by osmosis

Answer 1

Penicillin affects the bacterial cell wall growth, making it weak & susceptible to osmotic lysis.

i.e. when the bacteria is growing it needs to make molecules to build its cell wall & penicillin stops this. inside the body, there are different pressures acting on the cell wall of the bacteria such as osmotic pressure - because the concentration of many solutes are higher inside the cell than outside, there is a net pressure trying to force water into the cell - as the wall has been weakened by penicillin, there are molecules leaking in and out all over the place & water gushes in and eventually bursts the cell - killing the bacteria.

like bursting a bubble :)

Answer 2

when pinicillin is in the blood stream it uses osmosis as a method to getting into the bacterial cell wall where it disrupts the peptidoglycan layer so it just uses it as a means to enter bacteria , remember osmosis is mainly diffusion of water but penicillin catches a ride with it

hope that helps

Answer 3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penicillin