RT Book, Section A1 Stringer, Janet L. SR Print(0) ID 1142821517 T1 Folate Antagonists T2 Basic Concepts in Pharmacology: What You Need to Know for Each Drug Class, 5e YR 2017 FD 2017 PB McGraw-Hill Education PP New York, NY SN 9781259861079 LK accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1142821517 RD 2024/03/28 AB To understand the mechanism of action of this class of drugs, we need to first review the synthesis of folic acid (Figure 28–1). Bacteria cannot absorb folic acid, but must make it from PABA (para-aminobenzoic acid), pteridine, and glutamate. For humans, folic acid is a vitamin. We cannot synthesize it. This makes this metabolic pathway a nice, selective target for antimicrobial agents.