It is known that aminoglycoside antibiotics can damage the vestibular and auditory sensory epithelia, and the loop diuretics can enhance the ototoxic effect of aminoglycosides. Previous studies on the synergistic effect of these two types of drugs have used mice, guinea pigs and cats, but not rats. The aim of this study was to determine this synergistic effects in rat cochleae. Rats received intravenous injections of different doses of furosemide and/or intramuscular injections of kanamycin sulfate. Au-ditory brainstem response (ABR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and immunocytochemistry were used to determine the effects of drug administration. In the group receiving combined administration of furosemide and kanamycin, the ABR thresh-old showed significant elevation 3 days after drug administration, greater than single drug administration. The hair cells showed various degrees of injury from the apical turn to the basal turn of the cochlea and from the outer hair cells to the inner hair cells. Neuron fibers of the hair cells showed significant loss 7 days after the drug administration, but the number of spiral ganglia did not decrease and supporting cells showed no signs of injury. Our study suggest that combined administration of fu-rosemide and kanamycin has an synergistic ototoxic effect, and can result in hair cell loss and hearing loss in rats.