title: Diltiazem does not protect the ear from noise-induced hearing loss in mongolian gerbils.
abstract: Recent data suggest that diltiazem reduces noise-induced hearing loss. Our study was designed to replicate and extend the results of Maurer et al. by using the gerbil as a model. In experiment A, subjects received diltiazem (30 mg/kg/day intraperitoneally) or saline for 3 days. After peripheral thresholds were measured, each subject was exposed to a 4-kHz tone (90-dB sound pressure level) for 20 minutes. Similar amounts of temporary threshold shifts (ITS) were measured in the saline and diltiazem groups. In experiment B, subjects were given saline or diltiazem (30 mg/kg/day intraperitoneally) for 3 days and then exposed to an octave band of noise centered at 4 kHz for 5 days, during which time the subjects continued to receive the drug or saline. The TTS and permanent threshold shifts were similar in the two groups. Measures of cochlear nonlinearities also showed no effect of diltiazem, suggesting that diltiazem does not protect the ear from the effects of noise.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology and Communicative Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston.
authors.forename: F A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Boettcher
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001305:Auditory Fatigue / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004110:Diltiazem / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005849:Gerbillinae; D006317:Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D007274:Injections, Intraperitoneal; D017084:Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers; D004110:Diltiazem