PUBLICATION

Noise-induced hearing loss correlates with inner ear hair cell decrease in larval zebrafish

Authors
Lara, R.A., Breitzler, L., Lau, I.H., Gordillo-Martinez, F., Chen, F., Fonseca, P.J., Bass, A.H., Vasconcelos, R.O.
ID
ZDB-PUB-220309-3
Date
2022
Source
The Journal of experimental biology   225(7): (Journal)
Registered Authors
Chen, Fangyi
Keywords
Electrophysiology, Hair cell, Hearing, Noise, Prepulse inhibition, Saccule
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Auditory Threshold/physiology
  • Ear, Inner*
  • Hair Cells, Auditory/physiology
  • Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced*
  • Larva/physiology
  • Zebrafish/physiology
PubMed
35258623 Full text @ J. Exp. Biol.
Abstract
Anthropogenic noise can be hazardous for the auditory system and wellbeing of animals, including humans. However, very limited information is known on how this global environmental pollutant affects auditory function and inner ear sensory receptors in early ontogeny. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a valuable model in hearing research, including to investigate developmental processes of the vertebrate inner ear. We tested the effects of chronic exposure to white noise in larval zebrafish on inner ear saccular sensitivity and morphology at 3 and 5 days post fertilization (dpf), as well as on auditory-evoked swimming responses using the prepulse inhibition paradigm (PPI) at 5 dpf. Noise-exposed larvae showed significant increase in microphonic potential thresholds at low frequencies, 100 and 200 Hz, while PPI revealed a hypersensitisation effect and similar threshold shift at 200 Hz. Auditory sensitivity changes were accompanied by a decrease in saccular hair cell number and epithelium area. In aggregate, the results reveal noise-induced effects on inner ear structure-function in a larval fish paralleled by a decrease in auditory-evoked sensorimotor responses. More broadly, this study highlights the importance of investigating the impact of environmental noise on early development of sensory and behavioural responsiveness to acoustic stimuli.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping