Cardiac toxicities of antibiotics.

Abstract

Isolated heart muscle preparations are useful in the study of cardiac toxicities of drugs and environmental chemicals: such tissues allow assessment of chemical effects on heart muscle that is free from indirect in vivo influences that can mask or even accentuate cardiac responses measured in the intact animal. In the present study, left atria of guinea pigs were used to demonstrate a direct cardiac depressant effect of greater-than-therapeutic concentrations of several aminoglycoside antibiotics. The toxic effect of these antibiotics seems to be a calcium-dependent event, and may prove useful to characterize contractile responses of the heart. Other antibiotic agents can also depress cardiovascular function, as summarized in this report, but mechanisms of action have not been clearly defined.

Antibiotics: Conventional Therapy and Natural Compounds with Antibacterial Activity—A Pharmaco-Toxicological Screening

“…Adams et al observed that high concentrations of gentamicin, kanamycin, amikacin and sisomicin reduced isometric contractile tension of electrically driven left atria of guinea pigs. Besides, they discovered that gentamicin not only produced a negative inotropic effect in isolated heart muscle but also decreased contractile responses to several positive inotropic interventions [ 85 ].…”