[Pharmacology of gentamicin sulfate]

Pharmacology of gentamicin sulfate prepared at the All-Union Research Institute of Antibiotics was studied. By the paramaters of acute toxicity the drug did not differ from a Bulgarian sample of gentamicin sulfate. Under the conditions of the acute experiment on animals it was found that only high doses of gentamicin significantly exceeding the therapeutic ones induced some decrease in the arterial pressure, respiration suppression, blocking of the neuromuscle transmission in the synapses of the skeletal muscles. The latter may be eliminated by the use of calcium chloride. Under conditions of the chronic experiment with intramuscular administration of gentamicin sulfate to the animals for 4 weeks in doses equivalent to the theraputic ones for humans, impairement of the vestibular function and albuminuria often accompanied by pronounced distrophic changes in the kidney canaliculi were observed in some animals. An increase in the drug dose resulted in more pronounced distrophic changes in the kidney tissue.