Comparative oto-vestibular effects in the pigmented guinea pig after dibekacin and netilmicin treatment.

We treated groups of pigmented guinea pigs with either intramuscular netilmicin or dibekacin at 100 and 150 mg/kg per day for 3 weeks. Saline was used as the control solution. All animals were tested weekly for both vestibular and auditory functions. The vestibular function was evaluated by the duration of post-rotatory nystagmus (PRN) elicited by interrupting the rotation of the animal around the vertical axis; auditory function was evaluated by the threshold response for the Preyer's pinna reflex (PPR). All animals were then sacrificed and either their labyrinths or Corti organs were processed for further investigations using the scanning electron microscope (SEM). The duration of PRN decreased over the treatment period in all of the groups as a result of adaptation. However, 150 mg/kg dibekacin produced a significant decrease of the PRN responses as compared to the control and other groups. This effect also continued during the recovery period. Likewise, the PPR threshold of the animals receiving 150 mg/kg dibekacin showed a significant increase at the end of the treatments and during the recovery period, while the other dibekacin group had no significant auditory impairment. Netilmicin at both doses did not significantly affect responses following either vestibular or auditory stimulations. SEM observations demonstrated that the sensory epithelia of the labyrinths and Corti organs affected by 150 mg/kg dibekacin had great losses of stereocilia, while comparable doses of netilmicin (150 mg/kg) had only very moderate losses of stereocilia in the labyrinths but not in the Corti organs.