The effect of minocycline on potassium leakage from red cells: a study of the genetics and relationship to vestibular adverse reactions.

Minocycline causes an increased leakage of potassium from erthrocytes. This effect has been quantified and found to be highly repeatable but highly variable between subjects. The variability in the population is unimodal. Random family studies show no correlation between spouses and the heritability is 0·63. The in vitro minocycline effect in 11 subjects who had experienced vestibular adverse reactions on minocycline were shown to be randomly distributed in the population.