Osmotic stabilization prevents cochlear synaptopathy after blast trauma
Abstract
Trauma due to roadside bombs is an unfortunate consequence of modern warfare and terrorist attacks. Hearing loss often occurs because the cochlea is the body’s most sensitive pressure transducer. Here, we used in vivo imaging of the mouse cochlea using optical coherence tomography to show that increased endolymph volume correlates with damage to the auditory synapse. Reducing endolymph volume by increasing perilymph tonicity treated the synaptic loss. Therefore, this study identifies a treatment for noise-induced hearing loss. Furthermore, it suggests that this treatment may help patients with Meniere’s disease, a disabling syndrome of vertigo and hearing loss due to increased endolymph volume.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- May 07, 2018
- Source ID
- 10.1073/pnas.1720121115
Entities
People
- Anping Xia
- Brian E Applegate
- Jinkyung Kim
- John S Oghalai
- Nicolas Grillet
Organizations
- Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
- Stanford University
- University of Southern California