Final answer:
Antibacterial medication that is bactericidal can disrupt the bacterial cell membrane, leading to cell death by making cells vulnerable to osmotic lysis or directly damaging the membrane.
Step-by-step explanation:
The effect of antibacterial medication, specifically those that are categorized as bactericidal, is to disrupt the cell membrane integrity of bacteria, leading to cell death. Bactericidal drugs act by either inhibiting cell wall biosynthesis or directly targeting the membrane. Antibacterials like polymyxins can damage both the outer and inner bacterial membranes due to their detergent-like properties. However, this mechanism is not selectively toxic and can also harm cells in the human body, such as those in the kidney and nervous system.
Antibacterial drugs that inhibit cell wall biosynthesis, such as B-lactams, glycopeptides, and bacitracin, interfere with the synthesis of peptidoglycan. Since peptidoglycan is only present in bacterial cells and not human cells, these drugs are able to target bacteria specifically. The disrupted synthesis makes bacterial cells vulnerable to osmotic lysis, which is the rupture of the cell membrane as water rushes into the cell due to osmotic pressure differences.