Effects of Kanamycin on the Auditory Evoked Responses During Postnatal Development of the Hearing of the Rat

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Abstract
The ototoxic effects of kanamycin were studied in rats during the early postnatal period and at an adult age. Brain stem potentials and auditory cortical potentials were used for estimating ototoxic damage. The auditory potentials decreased promptly and markedly in the animals which were treated daily with 400 mg/kg body weight of kanamycin starting from the 11th day after birth. In these animals, the auditory potentials were almost completly abolished within 10 days after the beginning of the kanamycin treatment. When the same amount of kanamycin was applied earlier or later than that, i.e., avoiding the period of the initial appearance and the greatest development of auditory functions (from 11th-15th day after birth in the rat), the auditory potentials were not apparently damaged. In light and scanning electron microscopy, marked ototoxic changes were observed which underlay the functional damage. The meaning of these findings is discussed.