Comparative ototoxicity of bumetanide and furosemide when used in combination with kanamycin.

The ototoxicity of bumetanide and furosemide was compared in Topeka strain guinea pigs pretreated with kanamycin. The animals, anesthetized with pentobarbital, received a single dose of 400 mg/kg kanamycin subcutaneously and the diuretics via indwelling catheter in the jugular vein 2 hours later. Ototoxic drug effects were determined by measuring the electrophysiological responses of the cochlea to sound stimuli and by determining the presence or absence of cochlear sensory hair cells from the organ of Corti. Both bumetanide and furosemide produced permanent alteration of cochlear activity in the kanamycin-pretreated animals. The ototoxic effect of bumetanide is five times that of furosemide on a milligram-for-milligram basis. The ototoxic potential of bumetanide is one eighth that of furosemide when the doses are adjusted for diuretic potency difference between the two diuretics.