An animal experimental model of auditory neuropathy induced in rats by auditory nerve compression.
Several animal models of auditory neuropathy (AN) have been produced by employing pharmacological agents to damage auditory neurons or hair cells selectively. The specificity of pharmacological lesions is generally assessed by observation of visible structural damage but it is difficult to localize the delivery, which could lead to functional side effects in other anatomical structures. Although genetic analyses of human AN patients have provided important information on the pathophysiology of AN, specific genetic defects have not been fully correlated with functional deficits in the auditory nervous system. To address this problem, we compressed rat auditory nerves to assess neural degeneration for up to 35 weeks. The method produced a good model of auditory neuropathy, including profound deterioration of the auditory brainstem response and preservation of both cochlear microphonics and distortion product otoacoustic emissions. Histological examination revealed that in spite of profound degeneration of the auditory nerve, the hair cells remained intact. The model provides a complementary alternative to those based on pharmacological lesions and genetic analyses of AN patients and should allow analysis of the pathophysiology of auditory neuropathy with less risk of the results being confounded by unknown deficits in other cell types.
Matsumoto
Masahiro
M
Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan.
Sekiya
Tetsuji
T
Kojima
Ken
K
Ito
Juichi
J
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000818:Animals; D002452:Cell Count; D003055:Cochlear Microphonic Potentials; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D016057:Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem; D007381:Intermediate Filament Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D009408:Nerve Compression Syndromes / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000378:metabolism; D017084:Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous; D064531:Peripherins; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013997:Time Factors; D014404:Tubulin / Q000378:metabolism; D000160:Vestibulocochlear Nerve Diseases / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*
D007381:Intermediate Filament Proteins; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D064531:Peripherins; D014404:Tubulin