[Ultracytochemical observation on lysosome of hair cells in kanamycin ototoxic guinea pigs].

Using the ultracytochemical technique, we found the lysosome with high electronic density just beneath the cuticle plate in all normal hair cells; but in ototoxic group, the lysosome became multivesicular, expanded and displaced in hair cells. Occasionally the vesicles of the lysosome fused. In some of the hair cells, the cytoplasm dissolved, the membrane ruptured, the contents of the cells leaked out. In these cells the lysosome disappeared. We assume that the vesicle in the lysosome may be kanamycin and its metabolic products. The overloading and rupture of the lysosome can result in autolysis of the hair cell. This may be one of the mechanism of kanamycin ototoxicity.