Chemical Properties
White to Off-White Solid
Uses
an aminogycoside antibiotic designed to fight intestinal infections such as cryptosporidiosis, amoebiasis, and leishmaniasis. Its antiprotozoal activity makes it an effecive histomonostatic feed addit
ive in turkey poults experimentally infected with Histomonas meleagridis.
Uses
antibacterial, antiamebic
Uses
polymeric nonionic detergent
Definition
ChEBI: An aminoglycoside sulfate salt resulting from the treatment of paromomycin with sulfuric acid. A broad-spectrum antibiotic, it is used for the treatment of acute and chronic intestinal protozoal infections, but is not effective for extraintestinal protozoa
infections. It is also used as a therapeutic against visceral leishmaniasis.
Brand name
Humatin (King); Humatin (Parke-
Davis).
Purification Methods
Purify it by dissolving it in H2O (0.5g/10mL) and adding excess EtOH, filter or collect and wash with EtOH, then Et2O by centrifugation, and dry it in vacuo. An aqueous solution is stable at 37o for a week but longer at 0-5o. The free base [7542-37-2] is a white amorphous powder which should be stored under N2 because it is strongly basic and can absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. It is soluble in MeOH (less soluble in EtOH) and has [] D 25 +65o (c 1.5, MeOH). It is an antimicrobial against Gram +ve and Gram –ve bacteria and is antiamoebic. It inhibits initiation and peptide elongation during protein synthesis. [Haskell et al. J Am Chem Soc 8 1 , 3480, 3482 1959, Hichens & Rinehart J Am Chem Soc 85 1547 1963, Beilstein 18 III/IV 7534.]
General Description
Chemical structure: aminoglycoside
Biochem/physiol Actions
Paromomycin inhibits the initiation and elongation steps of protein synthesis by binding to 16S ribosomal RNA. Paramomycin binds to the A site, which causes defective polypeptide chains to be produced and leads to cell death.
Clinical Use
The isolation of paromomycin (Humatin) was reported in1956 from a fermentation with a Streptomyces sp. (PD04998), a strain said to resemble S. rimosus very closely.The parent organism had been obtained from soil samplescollected in Colombia. Paromomycin, however, moreclosely resembles neomycin and streptomycin in antibioticactivity than it does oxytetracycline, the antibiotic obtainedfrom S. rimosus.
Paromomycin has broad-spectrum antibacterial activityand has been used for the treatment of GI infections causedby Salmonella and Shigella spp., and enteropathogenic E.coli. Currently, however, its use is restricted largely to thetreatment of intestinal amebiasis. Paromomycin is soluble inwater and stable to heat over a wide pH range.
Safety Profile
Poison by intravenous,subcutaneous, and intramuscular routes. Mildly toxic byingestion. Mutation data reported. When heated to decomposition it emits very toxic fumesof SOx and NOx.
