[Preclinical toxicological study of the new antibiotic eremomycin. Its acute toxicity for laboratory animals]

Eremomycin is relatively low toxic. LD50 of eremomycin on its intravenous administration to albino mice amounted to 1760 (1460-2130) mg/kg. It is 2.6, 3.5 and 6 times less toxic than ristomycin, vancomycin and teicoplanin, respectively. The rate of intravenous administration had no significant effect on eremomycin toxicity. Sensitivity of adult and preadolescent mice to eremomycin was almost the same. Eremomycin toxicity for male mice was somewhat higher than that for female mice. The use of 5 per cent glucose solution instead of distilled water as a solvent lowered 1.3-fold the toxicity of eremomycin in albino mice when it was administered intravenously. The toxic effect of eremomycin on the renal function played a significant role in the mechanism of the animal death due to the antibiotic. In experiments with guinea pigs eremomycin showed no allergenic effect. Unlike the other representatives of glycopeptide antibiotics, eremomycin had practically no local irritating effect which provided its recommendation for clinical trials not only as an intravenous but also intramuscular antibiotic.