The effects of age and sex on the detection of pure tones by adult CBA/CaJ mice (Mus musculus)

Abstract

Age‐related hearing loss (ARHL) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a gradual decrease in hearing sensitivity. Previous electrophysiological and behavioral studies have demonstrated that the CBA/CaJ mouse strain is an appropriate model for the late‐onset hearing loss found in humans. However, few studies have characterized hearing in these mice behaviorally using longitudinal methodologies. The goal of this research was to utilize a longitudinal design and operant conditioning procedures with positive reinforcement to construct audiograms and temporal integration functions in aging CBA/CaJ mice. In the first experiment, thresholds were collected for 8, 16, 24, 42, and 64 kHz pure tones in 30 male and 35 female CBA/CaJ mice. Similar to humans, mice had higher thresholds for high frequency tones than for low frequency pure tones across the lifespan. Female mice had better hearing acuity than males after 645 days of age. In the second experiment, temporal integration functions were constructed for 18 male and 18 female mice for 16 and 64 kHz tones varying in duration. Mice showed an increase in thresholds for tones shorter than 200 ms, reaching peak performance at shorter durations than other rodent species. Overall, CBA/CaJ mice experience ARHL for pure tones of different frequencies and durations, making them a good model for studies on hearing loss. These findings highlight the importance of using a wide range of stimuli and a longitudinal design when comparing presbycusis across different species.

D-Stellate Neurons of the Ventral Cochlear Nucleus Decrease in Auditory Nerve-Evoked Activity during Age-Related Hearing Loss

“…These five mice were not included in Figure 1 and the ABR analysis. The observed changes in hearing threshold with age in this study are consistent with previous reports about this mouse strain [37,38].…”

Vocal repertoire and auditory sensitivity of white-throated woodrats (Neotoma albigula).

“…Male and female woodrats were similarly sensitive in their hearing and vocal abilities, corresponding to previous findings in grasshopper mice and correlating with behavioral observations in humans (Green et al, 2019;Homans et al, 2017;Tremblay et al, 2003). However, sex differences in hearing and communication abilities, may emerge with age as previously recorded in laboratory and wild rodents (Kobrina et al, 2020(Kobrina et al, , 2021Kobrina & Dent, 2019). Although laboratory rodents are often used to model human Note.…”

Olivocochlear Changes Associated With Aging Predominantly Affect the Medial Olivocochlear System

“…The mice were housed in groups with ad libitum water and food and under a 12-12-h night/day cycle. This strain was selected because CBA/CaJ mice show a hearing loss and cochlear damage trajectory across the lifespan that is similar to humans (Sergeyenko et al, 2013;Kobrina and Dent, 2020;. The subjects ranged from 1 to 30 months old.…”