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Hearing loss causing antibiotic protects ears |
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Washington,Hearing loss,antibiotic,protection |
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 Washington: In a surprise finding,
researchers in the US have found that a type of antibiotic
which causes hearing loss in people can protect the ears when
given in extended low doses.
The team from Washington University School of Medicine
in St Louis, who was researching if loud noise and the
antibiotic kanamycin together would produce a bigger hearing
loss, found that the regular low dose of the antibiotic
actually protects the ear.
"The protective effect of this type of antibiotic is a
previously unknown phenomenon that now leads to at least a
dozen important questions about what mechanisms cause hearing
loss and what mechanisms could be protective," said senior
author William W Clark.
"This very dramatically points out the benefits of
having basic scientists who can take a clinical problem and
find a result opposite of what we expected," Clark said.
During the test in mice, the team found a regular, low
dose of kanamycin completely protected the animals against the
sensory cell damage and hearing loss, Journal of the
Association for Research in Otolaryngology reported.
The protective effect of repeated doses persists for at
least two days after the last injection, the scientists noted.
The researchers plan to use these findings in a number
of different ways. They are now working to find out how
kanamycin protects the ear's sensory cells in order to develop
drugs with similar effects
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Updated :
Friday, 29 Jan 2010, 14:46 [IST] |
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