Tobramycin sulfate is used as an antibiotic which is used to treat various types of bacterial infections, particularly Gram-negative infections. It is especially effective against species of Pseudomonas. It is used to inhibit bacterial protein synthesis at the level of 30S (16S rRNA) and 70S ribosomal complex assembly. It is used to treat pseudomonas aeruginosa lung infections and is used in combination with other antibiotics to treat urinary tract infections, gynecologic infections, peritonitis, endocarditis, pneumonia, sepsis, respiratory infections, osteomyelitis and other soft-tissue infections. It is a potential therapy for sinus infections1. Product T1783 has been used to study antibiotic resistance2.
Clinical Use
Introduced in 1976, tobramycin sulfate (Nebcin) is the mostactive of the chemically related aminoglycosides called nebramycinsobtained from a strain of Streptomyces tenebrarius Five members of the nebramycin complex have beenidentified chemically. Factors 4 and 4＇ are 6＂-O-carbamoylkanamycin B andkanamycin B, respectively; factors 5＇ and 6 are 6＂-O-carbamoyltobramycinand tobramycin; and factor 2 isapramycin, a tetracyclic aminoglycoside with an unusual bicycliccentral ring structure. Kanamycin B and tobramycinprobably do not occur in fermentation broths per se but areformed by hydrolysis of the 6-O＂-carbamoyl derivatives inthe isolation procedure. The most important property of tobramycin is its activityagainst most strains of P. aeruginosa, exceeding that of gentamicinby twofold to fourfold. Some gentamicin-resistantstrains of this troublesome organism are sensitive to tobramycin,but others are resistant to both antibiotics. OtherGram-negative bacilli and staphylococci are generally moresensitive to gentamicin. Tobramycin more closely resembleskanamycin B in structure (it is 3＇-deoxykanamycin B).
