title: Auditory brainstem response as a possible objective indicator for salicylate-induced tinnitus in rats.
abstract: The auditory response to an acoustic stimulus will usually be suppressed, or masked, by a preceding sound. Here, we show that forward acoustic masking at a high frequency can boost the auditory brainstem response (ABR) in rats injected with a high dose of sodium salicylate (NaSal), a tinnitus inducer. The forward narrow band noise caused a decrease in the amplitude of the ABR to a probe tone burst in normal rats, but caused an unexpected increase in the amplitude at 16 kHz in rats treated with NaSal (300 mg/kg). The observed effect could be manifested in normal rats presented with a background tone added to the masker and the probe, suggesting an underlying mechanism associated with tinnitus. We hypothesize that in NaSal-treated rats, tinnitus can "internally" mask the ABR in a similar way as an external background sound does and the "unmasking" effect of forward masking can result in a rebound of the otherwise suppressed ABR. Our study raises the possibility of using the ABR as an objective indicator for NaSal-induced tinnitus in animals. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Tinnitus Neuroscience.
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Diseases, School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Peng
authors.initials: XP
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology; D015415:Biomarkers; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D016057:Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D010470:Perceptual Masking / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012980:Sodium Salicylate; D012984:Software; D014012:Tinnitus / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D012980:Sodium Salicylate