Protective effect of L-N-acetylcysteine against gentamycin ototoxicity in the organ cultures of the rat cochlea.

UNLABELLED The AIM of this study was to test if L-N-acetylcysteine (L-NAC) can protect hair cells against gentamycin-induced damage in vitro. Mammalian auditory cells are unable to regenerate when affected by several toxic agents. Aminoglycosides are large-scale antibiotics, extremely useful for the treatment of several Gram-negative bacterial infections, but their use is limited by the extremely severe side effects like ototoxicity and nephrotoxicity. MATERIALS AND METHODS 1-4-day-old rat cochlea explants were exposed to different doses of gentamycin. Half of the cochleas were pretreated for 24 hours with different doses of L-NAC. The explants were fixed and stained with phalloidin, and the intact hair cells were counted. RESULTS GM treatment resulted in the loss of sensorial cells in the organ of Corti explants in a dose-dependent manner. All doses of L-NAC offered significant protection (p<0.001) when added in culture 24 hours prior to GM. There was no significant difference between the level of protection offered by the different doses of L-NAC, both in the outer and inner hair cells. CONCLUSIONS Our results demonstrate that L-NAC can protect cochlear cells against gentamycin toxicity.