Cochlin Deficiency Protects Against Noise-Induced Hearing Loss.
Abstract
Cochlin is the most abundant protein in the inner ear. To study its function in response to noise trauma, we exposed adolescent wild-type (Coch +/+ ) and cochlin knock-out (Coch -/-) mice to noise (8-16 kHz, 103 dB SPL, 2 h) that causes a permanent threshold shift and hair cell loss. Two weeks after noise exposure, Coch-/- mice had substantially less elevation in noise-induced auditory thresholds and hair cell loss than Coch + / + mice, consistent with cochlin deficiency providing protection from noise trauma. Comparison of pre-noise exposure thresholds of auditory brain stem responses (ABRs) and distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) in Coch-/- mice and Coch + / + littermates revealed a small and significant elevation in thresholds of Coch-/- mice, overall consistent with a small conductive hearing loss in Coch-/- mice. We show quantitatively that the pro-inflammatory component of cochlin, LCCL, is upregulated after noise exposure in perilymph of wild-type mice compared to unexposed mice, as is the enzyme catalyzing LCCL release, aggrecanase1, encoded by Adamts4. We further show that upregulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines in perilymph and cochlear soft-tissue after noise exposure is lower in cochlin knock-out th...Continue Reading
References
Software Mentioned
Related Concepts
Related Feeds
Auditory Perception
Auditory perception is the ability to receive and interpret information attained by the ears. Here is the latest research on factors and underlying mechanisms that influence auditory perception.