Potentiation and its mechanism of cochlear damage resulting from furosemide and aminoglycoside antibiotics

The severe ototoxic interaction of the combined administration of furosemide and aminoglycoside antibiotics (kanamycin, streptomycin and gentamicin) was studied in rabbits, and its mechanism clarified. Severe damage occurred not only in the inner ear but also in the kidney when both furosemide and aminoglycoside antibiotics were administered to rabbits. Kanamycin concentration after a single injection of kanamycin with furosemide was much higher not only in the perilymph but also in the cerebrospinal fluid and serum than that after a single injection of kanamycin alone. The ototoxic interaction following the combined use of furosemide and aminoglycoside antibiotics seems to be caused mainly by the inhibitory effect of furosemide on the excretion of aminoglycoside antibiotics from the kidneys.