Auditory Threshold Variability in the SAMP8 Mouse Model of Age-Related Hearing Loss: Functional Loss and Phenotypic Change Precede Outer Hair Cell Loss

    August 2021 in “ Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience ”
    Barbara Peixoto Pinheiro, Youssef Adel, Marlies Knipper, Marcus Müller, Hubert Löwenheim
    TLDR Hearing decline in SAMP8 mice starts before outer hair cell loss and may be linked to other changes.
    The study on the SAMP8 mouse model of age-related hearing loss (ARHL) found that auditory function decline occurred before outer hair cell (OHC) loss, suggesting that phenotypic changes might contribute to hearing loss beyond what is visible in cytohistological analysis. Auditory brainstem response (ABR) thresholds were measured at 6, 12, and 24 weeks, revealing early progressive hearing decline. Variability in auditory thresholds was not directly linked to OHC loss, but differences in potassium channel expression (KCNQ4 and KCNQ1) were noted, indicating that oxidative deficiencies might predict threshold variability. The study suggested that further research into phenotypic predictors could uncover underlying causes of ARHL before OHC loss in SAMP8 mice.
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