Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
9429701 | Neuroscience Letters | 2005 | 6 Pages |
Abstract
Noise-induced effects within the inner ear have been well investigated for several years. However, this peripheral damage cannot fully explain the audiological symptoms in noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), e.g. tinnitus, recruitment, reduced speech intelligibility, hyperacusis. There are few reports on central noise effects. Noise can induce an apoptosis of neuronal tissue within the lower auditory pathway. Higher auditory structures (e.g. medial geniculate body, auditory cortex) are characterized by metabolic changes after noise exposure. However, little is known about the microstructural changes of the higher auditory pathway after noise exposure. The present paper was therefore aimed at investigating the cell density in the medial geniculate body (MGB) and the primary auditory cortex (AI) after noise exposure. Normal hearing mice were exposed to noise (10Â kHz center frequency at 115Â dB SPL for 3Â h) at the age of 21 days under anesthesia (Ketamin/Rompun, 10:1). After 1 week, auditory brainstem response recordings (ABR) were performed in noise exposed and normal hearing animals. After fixation, the brain was microdissected and stained (Kluever-Barrera). The cell density in the MGB subdivisions and the AI were determined by counting the cells within a grid. Noise-exposed animals showed a significant ABR threshold shift over the whole frequency range. Cell density was significantly reduced in all subdivisions of the MGB and in layers IV-VI of AI. The present findings demonstrate a significant noise-induced change of the neuronal cytoarchitecture in central key areas of auditory processing. These changes could contribute to the complex psychoacoustic symptoms after NIHL.
Related Topics
Life Sciences
Neuroscience
Neuroscience (General)
Authors
Dietmar Basta, Barbara Tzschentke, Arne Ernst,