title: Mechanism of alpha-lipoic acid in attenuating kanamycin-induced ototoxicity.
abstract: In view of the theory that alpha-lipoic acid effectively prevents cochlear cells from injury caused by various factors such as cisplatin and noise, this study examined whether alpha-lipoic acid can prevent kanamycin-induced ototoxicity. To this end, healthy BALB/c mice were injected subcutaneously with alpha-lipoic acid and kanamycin for 14 days. Auditory brainstem response test showed that increased auditory brainstem response threshold shifts caused by kanamycin were significantly inhibited. Immunohistochemical staining and western blot analysis showed that the expression of phosphorylated p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase and phosphorylated c-Jun N-terminal kinase in mouse cochlea was significantly decreased. The experimental findings suggest that phosphorylated p38 and phosphorylated c-Jun N-terminal kinase mediated kanamycin-induced ototoxic injury in BALB/c mice. Alpha-lipoic acid effectively attenuated kanamycin ototoxicity by inhibiting the kanamycin-induced high expression of phosphorylated p38 and phosphorylated c-Jun N-terminal kinase.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Liaoning Medical University, Jinzhou 121001, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Aimei
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Liaoning Medical University, Jinzhou 121001, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Liaoning Medical University, Jinzhou 121001, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Dongyan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bao
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Liaoning Medical University, Jinzhou 121001, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Shuangyue
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Scientific Laboratorial Center, Liaoning Medical University, Jinzhou 121001, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Xu
keywords: alpha-lipoic acid; auditory brainstem response; c-Jun N-terminal kinase; cochlea; hearing loss; immunohistochemistry; kanamycin; mouse; p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase; phosphorylation; western blot