The effectiveness of the antiviral agent ganciclovir (9-[1,3-dihydroxy-2-propoxymethyl]guanine) against guinea pig cytomegalovirus was tested in vitro in guinea pig embryonic fibroblasts and in vivo in an experimental guinea pig cytomegalovirus labyrinthitis model. In vitro, ganciclovir completely prevented guinea pig cytomegalovirus infection of guinea pig embryonic fibroblasts at concentrations above 32.6 ,ug/ml. In vivo, antibody-negative animals had an average 17-dB elevation in their auditory nerve compound action potential thresholds (P < 0.01, t test) and showed signs bilaterally of guinea pig cytomegalovirus labyrinthitis 8 days after intrathecal inoculation of virus. Ganciclovir administration starting 1 day before inoculation prevented the development of both cochlear histopathologic change and hearing loss. Guinea pig cytomegalovirus meningitis was observed in both the drug-treated and untreated groups. High-pressure liquid chromatography confirmed the presence of ganciclovir in the serum, perilymph, and cerebrospinal fluid of the drug recipients. Prophylactic ganciclovir thus can protect the cochlea from the histopathologic changes and hearing loss normally associated with experimental guinea pig cytomegalovirus labyrinthitis.Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is the leading infectious cause of congenital sensorineural hearing loss in humans. As many as 2.5% of all newborns have been estimated to be congenitally infected with CMV (10,11,13,25,26). About 5% of congenitally infected infants develop symptomatic congenital CMV syndrome. One half of these infants die, and the survivors typically exhibit significant and permanent intellectual, auditory, visual, or neurologic sequellae of their infection (26). Ninety-five percent of infants congenitally infected with CMV are asymptomatic at birth. However, as many as 20% of infants who appear normal at birth are later found to have sensorineural deafness, neurologic abnormalities, or mental retardation (11,18). Recent epidemiological studies have concluded that in the United States alone both congenital CMV infections and primary CMV infections later in life may account for as many as 40,000 new cases of sensorineural hearing loss per year (6). CMV may also be a significant factor in the sensorineural hearing loss and central auditory dysfunction found in up to 68% of patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (J. Gardi, C. D. Sooy, D. Morledge, P. Chambers, R. Gorter, and I. Medina, Assoc. Res. Otolaryngol. 10:93, 1987), over 90% of whom are infected with CMV (20). The pathogenesis of CMVinduced sensorineural hearing loss is poorly understood, and there is no known effective treatment.The species specificity of CMV has prevented the development of animal models using human CMV. However, it was recently demonstrated that the virology and histopathology of guinea pig CMV (GPCMV) closely resemble those of human CMV disease (2, 27). Using GPCMV, we established a model of virus labyrinthitis in guinea pigs after inoculation of seronegative animals with GPCMV via intra...