title: Survival-fixation of the cochlea: a technique for following time-dependent degeneration and repair in noise-exposed chinchillas.
abstract: To minimize problems with data interpretation due to interanimal variation in susceptibility to noise, we developed a survival-fixation paradigm which involves fixing one cochlea of an experimental chinchilla at one post-exposure time and fixing the second cochlea as much as 14-24 days later. This paradigm is analytically effective because there is a high correlation in the magnitude and pattern of damage in the left and right cochleas of binaurally exposed animals. Thus, each experimental animal provides two snapshots in the degeneration and repair continua in which it can be certain that both cochleas sustained equivalent amounts of damage during the exposure. Using this technique, the time course of degeneration of different structures and cells in the organ of Corti can be determined and primary damage can be distinguished from secondary effects. The present paper discusses the issues which had to be addressed to develop this technique and provides preliminary results from chinchillas exposed to a traumatic noise.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA. bohneb@msnotes.wustl.edu
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Bohne
authors.forename: G W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Harding
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Nordmann
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Tseng
authors.forename: G E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Bahadori
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016923:Cell Death / Q000502:physiology; D002682:Chinchilla; D003051:Cochlea / Q000293:injuries / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005154:Facial Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology; D006198:Hair Cells, Auditory / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D009622:Noise; D012016:Reference Values; D012038:Regeneration / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors; D016707:Tissue Fixation / Q000379:methods*; D014022:Tissue Survival; D014722:Vestibule, Labyrinth / Q000503:physiopathology