Genes and Hearing Loss: Relationship to Oxidative Stress and Free Radical Formation

Genetics of Postlingual Sensorineural Hearing Loss

“…Aerobic cells have evolved the ability to protect against ROS through biochemical pathways that reduce ROS or otherwise convert them to more tolerable forms. Mutations and elimination of genes encoding ROS‐protective genes demonstrate cochlear injury in animal studies 24 . ROS in turn damage DNA, creating a vicious cycle of damage to the cochlea that is genetically driven.…”

“…Although loss of function supports a role for their activity in normal auditory function during aging, overexpression paradoxically offers little, or in fact worsening, function 29–31 . This may be related to the increased levels of hydrogen peroxide, which produce other forms of ROS 24 . This drives the lesson that not all ROS are equal, and a careful balance between different species and different mechanisms to clear those specific species must be maintained by the aging cell.…”