The results suggest that the lower levels of oxidative stress incurred by TTS-noise exposure induce autophagy, which promotes OHC survival. However, excessive oxidative stress under sPTS-noise conditions overwhelms the beneficial potential of autophagy in OHCs and leads to OHC death and NIHL.
Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is a major unresolved public health problem. Here, we investigate pathomechanisms of sensory hair cell death and suggest a novel target for protective intervention. Cellular survival depends upon maintenance of energy homeostasis, largely by AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK). In response to a noise exposure in CBA/J mice, the levels of phosphorylated AMPK␣ increased in hair cells in a noise intensity-dependent manner. Inhibition of AMPK via siRNA or the pharmacological inhibitor compound C attenuated noise-induced loss of outer hair cells (OHCs) and synaptic ribbons, and preserved auditory function. Additionally, noise exposure increased the activity of the upstream AMPK kinase liver kinase B1 (LKB1) in cochlear tissues. The inhibition of LKB1 by siRNA attenuated the noise-increased phosphorylation of AMPK␣ in OHCs, reduced the loss of inner hair cell synaptic ribbons and OHCs, and protected against NIHL. These results indicate that noise exposure induces hair cell death and synaptopathy by activating AMPK via LKB1-mediated pathways. Targeting these pathways may provide a novel route to prevent NIHL.
Small GTPases mediate transmembrane signaling and regulate the actin cytoskeleton in eukaryotic cells. Here, we characterize the auditory pathology of adult male CBA/J mice exposed to traumatic noise (2–20 kHz; 106 dB; 2 h). Loss of outer hair cells was evident 1 h after noise exposure in the basal region of the cochlea and spread apically with time, leading to permanent threshold shifts of 35, 60, and 65 dB at 8, 16, and 32 kHz. Several biochemical and molecular changes correlated temporally with the loss of cells. Immediately after exposure, the concentration of ATP decreased in cochlear tissue and reached a minimum after 1 h while the immunofluorescent signal for p-AMPKα significantly increased in sensory hair cells at that time. Levels of active Rac1 increased, whereas those of active RhoA decreased significantly 1 h after noise attaining a plateau at 1 to 3 h; the formation of a RhoA-p140mDia complex was consistent with an activation of Rho GTPase pathways. Also at 1 to 3 h after exposure, the caspase-independent cell death marker, endonuclease G, translocated to the nuclei of outer hair cells. Finally, experiments with the inner ear HEI-OC1 cell line demonstrated that the energy-depleting agent oligomycin enhanced both Rac1 activity and cell death. The sum of the results suggests that traumatic noise induces transient cellular ATP depletion and activates Rho GTPase pathways, leading to death of outer hair cells in the cochlea.
Mitochondria modulate cellular calcium homeostasis by the combined action of the mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU), a selective calcium entry channel, and the sodium calcium exchanger (NCLX), which extrudes calcium from mitochondria. In this study, we investigated MCU and NCLX in noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) using adult CBA/J mice and noise-induced alterations of inner hair cell (IHC) synapses in MCU knockout mice. Following noise exposure, immunoreactivity of MCU increased in cochlear sensory hair cells of the basal turn, while immunoreactivity of NCLX decreased in a time- and exposure-dependent manner. Inhibition of MCU activity via MCU siRNA pretreatment or the specific pharmacological inhibitor Ru360 attenuated noise-induced loss of sensory hair cells and synaptic ribbons, wave I amplitudes, and NIHL in CBA/J mice. This protection was afforded, at least in part, through reduced cleavage of caspase 9 (CC9). Furthermore, MCU knockout mice on a hybrid genetic CD1 and C57/B6 background showed resistance to noise-induced seizures compared to wild-type littermates. Owing to the CD1 background, MCU knockouts and littermates suffer genetic high frequency hearing loss, but their IHCs remain intact. Noise-induced loss of IHC synaptic connections and reduction of auditory brainstem response (ABR) wave I amplitude were recovered in MCU knockout mice. These results suggest that cellular calcium influx during noise exposure leads to mitochondrial calcium overload via MCU and NCLX. Mitochondrial calcium overload, in turn, initiates cell death pathways and subsequent loss of hair cells and synaptic connections, resulting in NIHL.
Loss of auditory sensory hair cells is the major pathological feature of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). Currently, no established clinical therapies for prevention or amelioration of NIHL are available. The absence of treatments is due to our lack of a comprehensive understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying noise-induced damage. Our previous study indicates that epigenetic modification of histones alters hair cell survival. In this study, we investigated the effect of noise exposure on histone H3 lysine 9 acetylation (H3K9ac) in the inner ear of adult CBA/J mice and determined if inhibition of histone deacetylases by systemic administration of suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) could attenuate NIHL. Our results showed that H3K9ac was decreased in the nuclei of outer hair cells (OHCs) and marginal cells of the stria vascularis in the basal region after exposure to a traumatic noise paradigm known to induce permanent threshold shifts (PTS). Consistent with these results, levels of histone deacetylases 1, 2, and 3 (HDAC1, HDAC2 and HDAC3) were increased predominately in the nuclei of cochlear cells. Silencing of HDAC1, HDAC2, or HDAC3 with siRNA reduced the expression of the target HDAC in OHCs, but did not attenuate noise-induced PTS, whereas treatment with the pan-HDAC inhibitor SAHA, also named vorinostat, reduced OHC loss, and attenuated PTS. These findings suggest that histone acetylation is involved in the pathogenesis of noise-induced OHC death and hearing loss. Pharmacological targeting of histone deacetylases may afford a strategy for protection against NIHL.
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