Complexes of aminoglycoside antibiotics with copolymers of acrylamide with acrylic and methacrylic acids

Aminoglycoside antibiotics are structurally related substances with high levels of antimicrobial activity with wide spectra [1]. However, they are characterized by marked toxicity, particularly oto- and nephrotoxicity, when used therapeutically, and can produce neuromuscular blockade. The use of aminoglycoside antibiotics in clinical medicine therefore requires constant monitoring of blood peak and trough concentrations, which is a major hindrance. This raises the question of decreasing the toxicity of aminoglycoside antibiotics. One effective means of reducing the toxicity of ionogenic biologically active substances (BAS) without loss of biospecific activity is to complex them with nontoxic polyelectrolytes. The literature contains descriptions of water-soluble polymer complexes of kanamycin and gentamicin based on carboxymethyl and sulfopropyl esters of dextran which have high activity, though their toxicological characteristics were not reported [4]. The aim of the present work was to prepare and study the physicochemical, toxicological, and antimicrobial properties of complexes of aminoglycoside antibiotics with synthetic low molecular weight anionic copolymer carriers. Water-soluble copolymers of acrylamide (ACR) with acrylic (AA) and