1. Introduction to
pharmaceutical microbiology
Lecture 1

2. Definition and objectives
 Pharmaceutical Microbiology involves the study of the specific microorganisms associated
with the development, scale-up, and manufacture of pharmaceuticals and the subsequent
minimizing or elimination of the number of microorganisms in a process environment.
 Objectives of pharmaceutical microbiology to ensure safety and efficacy of pharmaceutical
products.
 It embraces to validation of disinfectants, evaluation of the efficacy of disinfectants in
suspension, on surfaces and through field trials.
 It offers protocols and techniques associated with the operation and assurance of clean-
room, aseptic-room and controlled environments for preventing any possible microbial
contamination, and introduces risk assessment and practical contamination control
strategies.

3. Scopes and importance
1. Production of antibiotics:
 2/3rd of antibiotics are produced from microorganisms.
 Many antibiotics are isolated from natural microorganisms by the process of
fermentation.
 Eg: Penicillin from Penicilium species, Streptomycin from Streptomyces
griseus, Tetracycline from Streptomyces aureofaciens, Chloramphenicol from
Streptomyces venezuelae

4. Scopes and importance
2. Production of enzymes, vaccines and other pharmaceutical products:
 Microbial cells produce intracellular and extracellular enzymes and these enzymes
are important for the success of pharmaceutical fermentation process.
Eg: amylase, protease, lipase, invertase, oxidase, catalase, cortison reductase, etc.
 Bio-surfactants have lot of applications in agriculture, food industries, industrial
cleaning, leather, paper and metal industries, textiles, cosmetics and the
pharmaceutical industry.
Different types of bio-surfactants are synthezed by a number of microorganisms, eg:
Acinetobacter speciesa, Bacillus species, Pseudomonas species, Rhodococcus species,etc.

5. Scopes and importance
3. Diagnosis of diseases and treatment
 Different tests are used to detect infectious microorganisms, eg: ELISA,
Widal test, TUBERCULLIN SKIN TEST,
4. Treatment of industrial waste material
 Most industrial processes produce waste water, salts, organic matter and
spent media and these are toxic.
 Many microbial species are used for decomposition of such waste materials
and organic components, eg: Actinomycetes, fungi, protozoa, etc.

6. Scopes and importance
5. Plant growth promotion
 Many microbial cells present in soil, play an important role in soil fertility,
herbicidal resistance, insect resistance, change in protein/oil content and
enhanced quality of plant products, eg: Rhizobium species, Rhodospirillum
species, Azotobacter species, Agrobacterium rhizogenes, Pseudomonas
species, Acetobacter species.
 Azotobacter chroococcum, living nitrogen fixing bacterium capable of
synthezing and secreting plant growth promoting substances like thiamine,
riboflavin, IAA, gibberellin,etc

7. Scopes and importance
6. Sterile product preparation:
 Ph. Microbiology plays a major role in preparation of sterile products.
 Deals with sterile rooms, aseptic techniques, detection of microbes by
sampling and sterility testing of different sterile preparations.
7. Sterilization:
 Any processes/methods that eliminates, removes, kills or deactivates all
forms of life and other biological agents(bacteria, fungi, viruses, etc) called
sterilization.
 Moist heat sterilization, dry heat sterilization, membrane filtration, gaseous
sterilization and chemical sterilization are the methods used for killing
microorganisms.

8. Scopes and importance
8. Steroid bio-transformation:
 Steroids are physiologically active compounds of complex structure, eg:
cholesterol, ergosterol, testosterone, progesterone, etc.
 Important steroids can be produced by microbiological transformations of
naturally occuring steroids, eg: Steptomyces species, Rhizopus species,
Aspergillus species, Penicillium species.
9. Identification of microorganisms:
 One of the vital function of pharmaceutical microbiology is identification of
microorganisms found in products and the manufacturing environment. The
microorganisms are isolated and identified by morphological, biochemical,
cultural, microscopic characteristics and genetic studies

9. Scopes and importance
10. Testing of pharmaceutical:
Raw material and finished products:
 The Presence of microorganisms like E. coli, Salmonella species,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus, in the raw materials and
finished products may deteriorate their efficacy and potency.
 Test the presence of microbes are described in the IP, USP, EP and BP.
 Limit on the total number of viable microbes in given product(TVC) and
involved in exclusion of specific pathogens.
 Water act as a vehicle-always tested for TVC.

10. Pharmaceutical testing
Microbiological assays of antibiotics:
• The antibiotic bioassay provides a potency for the over all biological activity of
an antibiotic preparation.
• Agar diffusion(plate assay) and turbidometric assay.
Evaluation of disinfectant :
Effective cleaning and disinfection of manufacturing facilities are crucial to the
achievement and maintenance of high quality standard required for medicine
and medical devices.
• Phenol coefficient test, cup plate method, turbidometric method and kelsey
Sykes test

11. Pharmaceutical testing
Antimicrobial Preservative efficacy testing:
 Different types of pharmaceutical products and cosmetics are protected from
attack by microorganisms by using preservatives.
 Eg: Methyl, ethyl, propyl and butyl Parabens, Sorbic acid.
 The preservatives should be non-toxic, easily available and have broad
spectrum activity.
 Cup-plate method, turbidometric method and total viable counting
techniques are used for determination of anti-microbal efficacy of
preservatives

12. Pharmaceutical testing
Endo-toxin testing:
 Bacterial endotoxin or pyrogens have a number of physiological effects
following intravenous injections such as fever, activation of cytokine system,
endothelial cell damage and intravascular coagulation.
 The Bacterial Endo-toxins Test(BET) is most important in microbiology
laboratories involved with quality control of parenterals and medical devices.
 LAL Test, gel-clot method, chromogenic end point, kinetic turbidometric assay
and kinetic chromogenic assay are also used to detect endotoxins.

13. Pharmaceutical testing
Test for support of the sterility assurance system:
 Sterility test mainly applicable in running an aseptic area and microbiology
lab.
 It is mainly performed in laminar air flow cabinets for parenteral
preparations and other sterile pharmaceuticals to detect presence of
microorganism.
 Bioburden testing is used to estimate the number of microorganism in the
product prior to sterilization