FVB/NJ mice demonstrate a youthful sensitivity to noise-induced hearing loss and provide a useful genetic model for the study of neural hearing loss.
The hybrid mouse diversity panel (HMDP), a panel of 100 strains, has been employed in genome wide association studies (GWAS) to study complex traits in mice. Hearing is a complex trait and the CBA/CaJ mouse strain is a widely used model for age-related hearing loss (ARHI) and noise induced hearing loss (NIHL). The CBA/CaJ strain's youthful sensitivity to noise and limited age-related loss led us to attempt to identify additional strains segregating a similar phenotype for our panel. FVB/NJ is part of the HMDP and has been previously described as having a similar ARHI phenotype to CBA/CaJ. For these reasons, we have studied the FVB/NJ mouse for ARHI and NIHL phenotypes in hopes of incorporating its phenotype into HMDP studies. We demonstrate that FVB/NJ exhibits ARHI at an earlier age than CBA/CaJ and young FVB/NJ mice are vulnerable to NIHL up until 10 to 12 weeks. This suggests that FVB/NJ may be used as an additional genetic model for neural forms of progressive hearing loss and for the study of youthful sensitivity to noise.
Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 90089 ; Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, House Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA 90057.
Maria K
MK
Ho
Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, House Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA 90057.
Xin
X
Li
Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 90089 ; Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, House Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA 90057.
Juemei
J
Wang
Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, House Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA 90057.
Jeffrey D
JD
Ohmen
Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 90089 ; Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, House Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA 90057.
Rick A
RA
Friedman
FVB/NJ mice; Hybrid mouse diversity panel; age-related hearing impairment; auditory brainstem response; distortion product otoacoustic emissions; noise-induced hearing loss