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Antibiotics and hearing loss
Gentamicin and other amino-glycoside antibiotics can damage auditory tissue and cause irreversible hearing loss in children whose mothers took the drug during pregnancy. Now, a team led by Federico Kalinec of the House Ear Institute, Los Angeles, has determined how gentamicin causes this damage (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, published online, Oct. 20, dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0508053102). Tests with pregnant guinea pigs and with auditory cells showed that the antibiotic increased production of a protein coded by the Harakiri gene. This increased expression could be responsible for killing sensory cells in the inner ear of the guinea pigs offspring. The researchers believe that gentamicin (which includes the structures shown) increases protein production in part by suppressing a cellular pathway involving c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK). The researchers prevented ear cell death in mothers and newborns by giving pregnant guinea pigs L-carnitine. This compound apparently halted cell death by reversing gentamicin s inhibition of the JNK pathway. L-Carnitine, which had no effect on gentamicin s antibiotic properties, is safe for humans.
2005. 10.24.2005. Antibiotics's products
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