The thalamus and tinnitus: Bridging the gap between animal data and findings in humans

Koops, Elouise A.; Eggermont, Jos J.

doi:10.1016/j.heares.2021.108280

Cited by 14 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 99 publications

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“…Even though these are valid concerns, it does not mean that animal studies are not of value for unraveling the pathophysiology of tinnitus in humans. A recent study showed that, although different methods are employed to study the activity and connectivity of brain areas, there is consistency within the results between these approaches in human and animal studies [84]. Therefore, the inflammatory effects shown in animal models for tinnitus may very well play a role in humans as well.…”

Section: Inflammation In the Pathophysiology Of Tinnitusmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Inflammation in Tinnitus: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Mennink

Aalbers

Dijk

et al. 2022

JCM

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Subjective tinnitus is the perception of sound without the presence of an external source. Increasing evidence suggests that tinnitus is associated with inflammation. In this systematic review, the role of inflammation in subjective tinnitus was studied. Nine animal and twenty human studies reporting inflammatory markers in both humans and animals with tinnitus were included. It was established that TNF-α and IL-1β are increased in tinnitus, and that microglia and astrocytes are activated as well. Moreover, platelet activation may also play a role in tinnitus. In addition, we elaborate on mechanisms of inflammation in tinnitus, and discuss potential treatment options targeting inflammatory pathways.

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Section: Inflammation In the Pathophysiology Of Tinnitusmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Inflammation in Tinnitus: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Mennink

Aalbers

Dijk

et al. 2022

JCM

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“…Therefore, we previously proposed the possibility that the neural noise for SR is injected into the auditory system via somatosensory projections to the DCN ( Krauss et al, 2016 , 2018 , 2019b ; Krauss and Tziridis, 2021 ; Schilling et al, 2021d , 2022 ). The idea that central noise plays a key role in auditory processing has recently gained increasing popularity ( Zeng, 2013 , 2020 ; Koops and Eggermont, 2021 ) and is supported by various findings. For instance, it is well-known, that jaw movements lead to a modulation of subjective tinnitus loudness ( Pinchoff et al, 1998 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Intrinsic Noise Improves Speech Recognition in a Computational Model of the Auditory Pathway

et al. 2022

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Noise is generally considered to harm information processing performance. However, in the context of stochastic resonance, noise has been shown to improve signal detection of weak sub- threshold signals, and it has been proposed that the brain might actively exploit this phenomenon. Especially within the auditory system, recent studies suggest that intrinsic noise plays a key role in signal processing and might even correspond to increased spontaneous neuronal firing rates observed in early processing stages of the auditory brain stem and cortex after hearing loss. Here we present a computational model of the auditory pathway based on a deep neural network, trained on speech recognition. We simulate different levels of hearing loss and investigate the effect of intrinsic noise. Remarkably, speech recognition after hearing loss actually improves with additional intrinsic noise. This surprising result indicates that intrinsic noise might not only play a crucial role in human auditory processing, but might even be beneficial for contemporary machine learning approaches.

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“…Findings in animal models of tinnitus are crucial in this endeavor, as neural changes can be correlated with behavioral evidence of tinnitus. It is important, however, that findings in animal studies are confirmed in humans to show the validity of such outcomes [ 6 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Post-Mortem Analysis of Neuropathological Changes in Human Tinnitus

et al. 2022

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Tinnitus is the phantom perception of a sound, often accompanied by increased anxiety and depressive symptoms. Degenerative or inflammatory processes, as well as changes in monoaminergic systems, have been suggested as potential underlying mechanisms. Herein, we conducted the first post-mortem histopathological assessment to reveal detailed structural changes in tinnitus patients’ auditory and non-auditory brain regions. Tissue blocks containing the medial geniculate body (MGB), thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN), central part of the inferior colliculus (CIC), and dorsal and obscurus raphe nuclei (DRN and ROb) were obtained from tinnitus patients and matched controls. Cell density and size were assessed in Nissl-stained sections. Astrocytes and microglia were assessed using immunohistochemistry. The DRN was stained using antibodies raised against phenylalanine hydroxylase-8 (PH8) and tyrosine-hydroxylase (TH) to visualize serotonergic and dopaminergic cells, respectively. Cell density in the MGB and CIC of tinnitus patients was reduced, accompanied by a reduction in the number of astrocytes in the CIC only. Quantification of cell surface size did not reveal any significant difference in any of the investigated brain regions between groups. The number of PH8-positive cells was reduced in the DRN and ROb of tinnitus patients compared to controls, while the number of TH-positive cells remained unchanged in the DRN. These findings suggest that both neurodegenerative and inflammatory processes in the MGB and CIC underlie the neuropathology of tinnitus. Moreover, the reduced number of serotonergic cell bodies in tinnitus cases points toward a potential role of the raphe serotonergic system in tinnitus.

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The thalamus and tinnitus: Bridging the gap between animal data and findings in humans

Cited by 14 publications

References 99 publications

The Role of Inflammation in Tinnitus: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The Role of Inflammation in Tinnitus: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Intrinsic Noise Improves Speech Recognition in a Computational Model of the Auditory Pathway

Post-Mortem Analysis of Neuropathological Changes in Human Tinnitus

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