title: Dietary vitamin E protects the fathead minnow, Pimephales promelas, against noise exposure.
abstract: The fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) was employed to examine if dietary vitamin E supplementation could protect the inner ear from the deleterious effects of noise. Fish were fed one of the three experimental diets containing either: (1) low vitamin E content (14.5 mg/kg diet as alpha-tocopheryl acetate), (2) an adequate amount of vitamin E (50 mg/kg), or (3) high vitamin E content (450 mg/kg). After 4 weeks on the diet, fish were exposed to either 2 or 24 h of intense white noise (142 dB re: 1 microPa, bandwidth 0.3-4.0 kHz). Auditory thresholds were measured, using the auditory brainstem response (ABR) technique, within 0.5 days following noise exposure or within a recovery period of 1.5 days. Additionally, liver samples were analyzed for vitamin E content. Increased vitamin E supplementation was dose-dependently associated with a reduction in statistically significant threshold shifts after noise exposure and an enhancement of recovery (i.e., more complete recovery over a shorter period) for fish exposed to either 2 or 24 h of noise. The results obtained suggest that dietary vitamin E affords protection against noise exposure in a cyprinid fish.
authors.affiliation: Mechanosensory Physiology Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0225, USA. ascholik@geo-marine.com
authors.forename: Amy R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Scholik
authors.forename: Ung-Soo
authors.initials: US
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Ching K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Chow
authors.forename: Hong Y
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Yan
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D001299:Audiometry; D001309:Auditory Threshold / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005399:Fishes / Q000502:physiology*; D006317:Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008297:Male; D009622:Noise / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013997:Time Factors; D024505:Tocopherols; D024502:alpha-Tocopherol / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D024502:alpha-Tocopherol; D024505:Tocopherols