Comparative acute toxicity of four drugs. A study of neomycin, gentamicin, kanamycin, and dihydrostreptomycin

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Abstract
Equimolar comparison of acute toxicity to bacteria (clinical isolates of gram-negative bacilli) and mammalian cells (albino mice) of 4 aminosugar antibiotics which have clinical usage disclosed that generally, the sequence of toxic potency was neomycin > gentamicin > kanamycin > dihydrostreptomycin. There were 2 important exceptions: neomycin and kanamycin had comparable anti- Providencia sp. effect and kanamycin had the least acute lethal toxicity to mice on intraperitoneal and intramuscular challenge. No renal lesions consequent to acute exposure to these drugs were seen in mice which died immediately or survived 1 week after injection.