Marco
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Edited abstract :
https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000307
Although recent studies indicate that hearing loss causes neuroinflammation in the auditory pathway, the mechanisms underlying hearing loss–related pathologies are still poorly understood. We examined neuroinflammation in the auditory cortex following noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) and its role in tinnitus in rodent models.
Our results indicate that NIHL is associated with elevated expression of proinflammatory cytokines and microglial activation—two defining features of neuroinflammatory responses—in the primary auditory cortex (AI).
Genetic knockout of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) or pharmacologically blocking TNF-α expression prevented neuroinflammation and ameliorated the behavioral phenotype associated with tinnitus in mice with NIHL. Conversely, infusion of TNF-α into AI resulted in behavioral signs of tinnitus in both wild-type and TNF-α knockout mice with normal hearing.
These results implicate neuroinflammation as a therapeutic target for treating tinnitus and other hearing loss–related disorders.
https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000307