Abstract
Acute acoustic trauma (AAT) is a sudden sensorineural hearing loss caused by exposure of the hearing organ to acoustic overstimulation, typically an intense sound impulse, hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HOT), which favors repair of the microcirculation, can be potentially used to treat it. Hence, this study aimed to assess the effects of HOT on guinea pigs exposed to acoustic trauma. Fifteen guinea pigs were exposed to noise in the 4-kHz range with intensity of 110 dB sound level pressure for 72 h. They were assessed by brainstem auditory evoked potential (BAEP) and by distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) before and after exposure and after HOT at 2.0 absolute atmospheres for 1 h. The cochleae were then analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). There was a statistically significant difference in the signal-to-noise ratio of the DPOAE amplitudes for the 1- to 4-kHz frequencies and the SEM findings revealed damaged outer hair cells (OHC) after exposure to noise, with recovery after HOT (p = 0.0159), which did not occur on thresholds and amplitudes to BAEP (p = 0.1593). The electrophysiological BAEP data did not demonstrate effectiveness of HOT against AAT damage. However, there was improvement of the anatomical pattern of damage detected by SEM, with a significant reduction of the number of injured cochlear OHC and their functionality detected by DPOAE.
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Abbreviations
- AAT:
-
Acute acoustic trauma
- ATA:
-
Absolute atmospheric pressure
- OHC:
-
Outer hair cells
- HOT:
-
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy
- FMRP:
-
Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto
- USP:
-
University of São Paulo
- OAE:
-
Otoacoustic emission
- DPOAE:
-
Distortion product otoacoustic emission
- BEAP:
-
Brainstem auditory evoked potential
- dB SPL:
-
Decibel sound pressure level
- SEM:
-
Scanning electron microscopy
- T1:
-
Basal turn
- T2:
-
Second turn
- T3:
-
Third turn
- SOD:
-
Superoxide dismutase
- SOD1:
-
Copper/zinc-superoxide dismutase
- R1:
-
First row
- R2:
-
Second row
- R3:
-
Third row
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Acknowledgments
The research related to this article has been sponsored by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) under the process of number 2007/59213-2.
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Colombari, G.C., Rossato, M., Feres, O. et al. Effects of hyperbaric oxygen treatment on auditory hair cells after acute noise damage. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 268, 49–56 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-010-1338-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-010-1338-4