The protective effect of piperacillin against the nephrotoxicity of cephaloridine and gentamicin was examined in experimental animals. In rabbits, piperacillin was infused at a dose of 1 mg/kg (body weight) per min over 225 min and cephaloridine (300 mg/kg) was intravenously administered as a bolus 45 min after the start of a drip infusion. Blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine, and N-acetyl-jo-D-glucosaminidase (NAG) in urine were measured as the renal toxicological parameters before and 24 h after cephaloridine dosing. Although the single administration of cephaloridine significantly elevated these parameters, the elevation was prevented by the concomitant administration of piperacillin. The protective effect of piperacillin was superior to those of cephalothin and fosfomycin. In rats, piperacillin (1,000 mg/kg) was intravenously administered and immediately followed by the intramuscular administration of gentamicin (100 mg/kg) every 24 h for 5 days. When piperacillin was concomitantly administered with gentamicin, the elevations of blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine, and urinary NAG were significantly lower than when gentamicin was given alone. The concomitant administration of piperacillin resulted in a significant protective effect against the nephrotoxicity of cephaloridine in rabbits and of gentamicin in rats. Histopathological observation also supported the protective effect of piperacillin. The protective mechanism of piperacillin might be the inhibition of transport from the peritubular side to tubular cells for cephaloridine and from both the peritubular and luminal sides for gentamicin.Large doses of cephaloridine cause acute renal cell lesions of the proximal tubules in experimental animals (1,4,6,24,29). Gentamicin shows both nephrotoxicity and ototoxicity in a variety of experimental animals (10,11,15,17,18,(20)(21)(22)(23) and humans (16,31). Therefore, many attempts have been made to prevent nephrotoxicity by administering protective agents (2,3,5,7,9,14,25,26,28). For example, probenecid (7, 25, 28), p-aminohippurate (26), and other organic anions (7) have been found to reduce the nephrotoxicity of cephaloridine in experimental animals.Previously, we reported the pharmacokinetic changes of cefazolin and cefoperazone in combination with piperacillin in rabbits (13). Urinary excretion of cefazolin and cefoperazone was reduced, and subsequently, drug half-lives in serum were prolonged by the concomitant administration of piperacillin. However, the urinary excretion of piperacillin was not affected by the concomitant administration of cefazolin or cefoperazone. From the fact that these threelactams were mainly excreted by tubular secretion, piperacillin seemed to have a higher affinity for the tubular secretion system in rabbits. It is therefore expected that the higher affinity of piperacillin to the tubular secretion system would protect against the nephrotoxicity due to cephaloridine and gentamicin.In this paper, we report the protective effect of piperacillin against the nephrotoxicity of c...