Abstract
A new aminoglycoside antibiotic amikacin (BB-K8) was produced by acylation of kanamyc: n A with L (-)-γ-amino-α-hydroxy-butyric acid (HABA). Amikacin showed high and broad antibacterial activity against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. It should be noted further that amikacin as well as gentamicin showed strong antibacterial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. According to the fact that P. aeruginosa strains resistant to either gentamicin or butirosin were sensitive to amikacin, the biochemical mechanism of amikacin-resistant P. aeruginosa is suggested to be different from that of gentamicin or butirosin resistance in P. aeruginosa. Antibacterial activity of amikacin was compared with that of gentamicin C1, DKB and 6'-N-methyl DKB using kanamycin-resistant strains, indicating that these drugs were effective.
