Noise priming and the effects of different cochlear centrifugal pathways on loud-sound-induced hearing loss

Genetic tools for studying cochlear inhibition

Efferent feedback to the mammalian cochlea includes cholinergic medial olivocochlear neurons (MOCs) that release ACh to hyperpolarize and shunt the voltage change that drives electromotility of outer hair cells (OHCs). Via brainstem connectivity, MOCs are activated by sound in a frequency- and intensity-dependent manner, thereby reducing the amplification of cochlear vibration provided by OHC electromotility. Among other roles, this efferent feedback protects the cochlea from acoustic trauma. Lesion studies, as well as a variety of genetic mouse models, support the hypothesis of efferent protection from acoustic trauma. Genetic knockout and gain-of-function knockin of the unique α9α10-containing nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) in hair cells show that acoustic protection correlates with the efficacy of cholinergic inhibition of OHCs. This protective effect was replicated by viral transduction of the gain-of-function α9L9'T nAChR into α9-knockout mice. Continued progress with "efferent gene therapy" will require a reliable method for visualizing nAChR expression in cochlear hair cells. To that end, mice expressing HA-tagged α9 or α10 nAChRs were generated using CRISPR technology. This progress will facilitate continued study of the hair cell nAChR as a therapeutic target to prevent hearing loss and potentially to ameliorate associated pathologies such as hyperacusis.

Opioid receptor activation modulates the calcium current in the cochlear outer hair cells of the rat

Previous works showed that opioid peptides are produced by olivocochlear efferent neurons, while cochlear hair cells express opioid receptors. It has been proposed that opioids protect the auditory system from damage by intense stimulation, although their use for therapeutic or illicit purposes links to hearing impairment. Therefore, it is relevant to study the effect of opioids in the auditory system to define their functional expression and mechanism of action. This study investigated the modulation of the Ca²⁺ currents by opioid peptides in the rat outer hair cells (OHC) using the whole-cell patch-clamp technique. The influence of agonists of the three opioid receptor subtypes (μ, δ, and κ) was studied. The κ opioid receptor agonist U-50488 inhibits the Ca²⁺ currents in a partially reversible form. Coincidently, norbinaltorphimine (a κ receptor antagonist) blocked the U-50488 inhibitory effect on the Ca²⁺ current. The δ- and the μ opioid receptor agonists did not significantly affect the Ca²⁺ currents. These results indicate that the κ opioid receptor activation inhibits the Ca²⁺ current in OHC, modulating the intracellular Ca²⁺ concentration when OHCs depolarize. The modulation of the auditory function by opioids constitutes a relevant mechanism with a potential role in the physiopathology of auditory disturbances.

Efferent Inhibition of the Cochlea

Cholinergic efferent neurons originating in the brainstem innervate the acoustico-lateralis organs (inner ear, lateral line) of vertebrates. These release acetylcholine (ACh) to inhibit hair cells through activation of calcium-dependent potassium channels. In the mammalian cochlea, ACh shunts and suppresses outer hair cell (OHC) electromotility, reducing the essential amplification of basilar membrane motion. Consequently, medial olivocochlear neurons that inhibit OHCs reduce the sensitivity and frequency selectivity of afferent neurons driven by cochlear vibration of inner hair cells (IHCs). The cholinergic synapse on hair cells involves an unusual ionotropic ACh receptor, and a near-membrane postsynaptic cistern. Lateral olivocochlear (LOC) neurons modulate type I afferents by still-to-be-defined synaptic mechanisms. Olivocochlear neurons can be activated by a reflex arc that includes the auditory nerve and projections from the cochlear nucleus. They are also subject to modulation by higher-order central auditory interneurons. Through its actions on cochlear hair cells, afferent neurons, and higher centers, the olivocochlear system protects against age-related and noise-induced hearing loss, improves signal coding in noise under certain conditions, modulates selective attention to sensory stimuli, and influences sound localization.

The olivocochlear system and protection from acoustic trauma: a mini literature review

Large intersubject variability in the susceptibility to noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is known to occur in both humans and animals. It has been suggested that the olivocochlear system (OCS) plays a significant role in protecting the cochlea from exposure to high levels of noise. A mini literature review about the scientific evidence from animal and human studies about the association between the function of the OCS and susceptibility to NIHL was carried out. Animal data consistently show that de-efferented ears exhibit larger temporary threshold shift (TTS) and permanent threshold shift (PTS) than efferented ears. Data from human studies do not consistently show a correlation between the strength of the OCS function and amount of TTS. Further research on human subjects is required to determine how the OCS function could be used to predict susceptibility to NIHL in individual subjects.

Off-channel effect of high-frequency overstimulation on duration tuning of low-frequency inferior colliculus neurons in guinea pigs

CONCLUSION

High-frequency overstimulation can cause the loss of duration selectivity in low-frequency inferior colliculus neurons in guinea pigs.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the effect of high-frequency overstimulation on duration tuning in low-frequency inferior colliculus neurons in guinea pigs.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Duration tuning pattern was recorded by measuring the spikes of single neurons in response to the best frequency (BF) of different durations. The effect of high-frequency overstimulation was verified by comparing the responses before and after the tone exposure.

RESULTS

In total, 40 duration-tuned neurons were successfully recorded before and after the tone exposure. After the high-frequency tone trauma, a total of 29 neurons (72.5%) became non-duration-tuned.

Slow build-up of cochlear suppression during sustained contralateral noise: central modulation of olivocochlear efferents?

The strength of the medial olivocochlear (OC) reflex is routinely assayed by measuring suppression of ipsilateral responses such as otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) by a brief contralateral noise, e.g., (Berlin, C.I., Hood, L.J., Cecola, P., Jackson, D.F., Szabo, P. 1993. Does type I afferent dysfunction reveal itself through lack of efferent suppression. Hear. Res. 65, 40-50). Here, we show in anesthetized guinea pigs, that the magnitude of OC-mediated suppression of ipsilateral cochlear responses (i.e., compound actions potentials (CAPs), distortion product (DP) OAEs and round-window noise) slowly builds over 2-3 min during a sustained contralateral noise. The magnitude of this build-up suppression was largest at low ipsilateral stimulus intensities, as seen for suppression measured at contra-noise onset. However, as a function of stimulus frequency, build-up suppression magnitude was complementary to onset suppression, i.e., largest at the lowest and highest frequencies tested. Both build-up and onset suppression were eliminated by cutting the OC bundle. In contrast to "slow effects" of shock-evoked medial OC activity (Sridhar, T.S., Liberman, M.C., Brown, M.C., Sewell, W.F. 1995. A novel cholinergic "slow effect" of efferent stimulation on cochlear potentials in the guinea pig. J. Neurosci. 15, 3667-3678), which are mediated by slow intracellular changes in Ca concentration in OHCs, build-up effects of contralateral noise are immediately extinguished upon OC bundle transection and are likely mediated by central modulation of the response rates in MOC fibers due to the sustained noise. Results suggest that conventional tests of OC reflex strength may underestimate its magnitude in noisy environments.

Bandwidth determines modulatory effects of centrifugal pathways on cochlear hearing desensitization caused by loud sound

Centrifugal olivocochlear (OC) pathways modulate cochlear hearing losses induced in cats by loud sounds varying in bandwidth from tones to clicks and noise bands, in a variety of conditions. The general effect, always to reduce hearing damage, can be a net effect resulting from complex interactions between OC subcomponents (crossed and uncrossed OC pathways). The interactions between these subcomponents vary with type of loud sound, suggesting that sound bandwidth may be important in determining how OC pathways modulate loud sound-induced hearing loss. This dependency was examined and here it is reported that OC pathways do not alter cochlear hearing losses caused by loud noise with a 2-kHz-wide bandwidth intermediate between the loud sounds of previous studies. Increasing stimulus bandwidth even slightly more, to use a loud 3.5-kHz-wide bandwidth noise as the damaging sound, once again revealed OC modulation of cochlear hearing loss. The fact that OC pathways do not modulate cochlear hearing losses induced by loud 2-kHz-wide noise was demonstrated in three very different test conditions in which OC pathways modulate hearing losses caused by narrower or broader bandwidth sounds. This confirmed that the absence of centrifugal modulation of hearing loss to this particular sound was a robust phenomenon not related to test condition. The absence of overall centrifugal effects was also true at the level of subcomponent pathways; neither crossed nor uncrossed OC pathways individually modulated cochlear hearing losses to the loud 2-kHz-wide noise. This surprising frequency dependency has general implications for centrifugal modulation of cochlear responses.

Contextual modulation of olivocochlear pathway effects on loud sound-induced cochlear hearing desensitization

This study shows that the cochlear hearing losses [temporary threshold shifts (TTSs)] induced by traumatic sound and the effect of olivocochlear (OC) pathways to the cochlea on these hearing losses depend on the context of the sound. Background atraumatic white noise (WN) has been shown to 1) exacerbate loud-pure-tone-induced TTSs, and 2) promote the modulation of TTSs by the uncrossed OC (UOC) pathways additional to the action on TTSs, elicited by binaural loud tones themselves, by the crossed OC (COC) pathway. Here the same atraumatic WN reduced TTSs caused by loud narrow band sound. It also reduced TTS modulation by OC pathways. The UOC no longer exerted any effects on TTSs, and COC effects were significantly reduced in two discrete frequency bands: low frequencies within the narrow band ("within-band" frequencies) and high frequencies outside the band ("high-side" frequencies). COC effects were unchanged at high frequencies within the band. Despite these reductions in OC effects, because the WN itself reduced TTSs, the total effect of OC pathways and background WN now produced larger TTS reductions, especially at higher frequencies. Thus the modulatory effects of the OC pathways on TTSs depend on how background WN modulates cochlear state. It is postulated that the WN background and the OC pathways both modulate TTSs by acting on the outer hair cells, in a way that promotes the reduction of TTSs caused by the narrow band sound trauma. This joint promotion of a protective end-effect on TTSs to narrow band sound trauma contrasts against the effects seen with pure tone trauma where the same background WN exacerbated TTSs at high-side frequencies.

Protection from acoustic trauma is not a primary function of the medial olivocochlear efferent system

The medial olivocochlear (MOC) efferent system is an important component of an active mechanical outer hair cell system in mammals. An extensive neurophysiological literature demonstrates that the MOC system attenuates the response of the cochlea to sound by reducing the gain of the outer hair cell mechanical response to stimulation. Despite a growing understanding of MOC physiology, the biological role of the MOC system in mammalian audition remains uncertain. Some evidence suggests that the MOC system functions in a protective role by acting to reduce receptor damage during intense acoustic exposure. For the MOC system to have evolved as a protective mechanism, however, the inner ears of mammals must be exposed to potentially damaging sources of noise that can elicit MOC-mediated protective effects under natural conditions. In this review, we evaluate the possibility that the MOC system evolved to protect the inner ear from naturally occurring environmental noise. Our survey of nonanthropogenic noise levels shows that while sustained sources of broadband noise are found in nearly all natural acoustic environments, frequency-averaged ambient noise levels in these environments rarely exceed 70 dB SPL. Similarly, sources reporting ambient noise spectra in natural acoustic environments suggest that noise levels within narrow frequency bands are typically low in intensity (<40 dB SPL). Only in rare instances (e.g., during frog choruses) are ambient noise levels sustained at moderately high intensities (~70-90 dB SPL). By contrast, all experiments in which an MOC-mediated protective effect was demonstrated used much higher sound intensities to traumatize the cochlea (100-150 dB SPL). This substantial difference between natural ambient noise levels and the experimental conditions necessary to evoke MOC-mediated protection suggests that even the noisiest natural acoustic environments are not sufficiently intense to have selected for the evolution of the MOC system as a protective mechanism. Furthermore, although relatively intense noise environments do exist in nature, they are insufficiently distributed to account for the widespread distribution of the MOC system in mammals. The paucity of high-intensity noise and the near ubiquity of low-level noise in natural environments supports the hypothesis that the MOC system evolved as a mechanism for "unmasking" biologically significant acoustic stimuli by reducing the response of the cochlea to simultaneous low-level noise. This suggested role enjoys widespread experimental support.

Activation of tyrosine hydroxylase in the lateral efferent terminals by sound conditioning

Preconditioning to sound is a well-documented strategy to provide protections against a subsequent acoustic trauma. In the present study, preconditioning (1.0 kHz tone at 81 dB sound pressure level (SPL) for 24 h) protected ABR thresholds by 17-28 dB from an acoustic trauma (2.7 kHz, 103 dB SPL, 30 min) that resulted in a temporary threshold shift. The protection afforded by sound conditioning was shown to be blocked by the administration of 6-hydroxydopamine which disrupts tyrosine hydroxylase in the nerve terminals of the lateral efferent fibers. Furthermore, tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivity was up-regulated both by sound conditioning alone, and by the combined treatment of sound conditioning and acoustic trauma. In contrast, acoustic trauma alone resulted in a reduction in tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivity compared to unexposed controls. These findings are the first demonstration that tyrosine hydroxylase in the lateral efferents are up-regulated during sound conditioning and suggests a role for the lateral efferent system in protecting against acoustic trauma by sound conditioning.

Cochlear outer-hair-cell efferents and complex-sound-induced hearing loss: protective and opposing effects

Centrifugal crossed and uncrossed medial olivocochlear systems (CMOCS and UMOCS) terminate on cochlear outer hair cells (OHCs) and exercise effects through a nicotinic cholinergic receptor. Hence their cochlear effects have not been differentiated. Recent work on protection from loud-sound-induced temporary threshold shifts (TTSs) in hearing sensitivity suggest the two OHC efferent systems may act differently. This was tested, using traumatic complex sound, to determine if such sound could activate both MOCS components and then reveal whether they exerted different effects on TTSs to such stimuli. Traumatic noise bands activated crossed and uncrossed MOCS efferents. Two different CMOCS effects were observed. For frequencies in the noise (within-band frequencies), it protected hearing sensitivity as expected. Novel findings were that at frequencies higher than the noise band range (high-side frequencies), it acted to worsen hearing sensitivity and that this was opposed by a UMOCS effect generally targeted to these frequency regions. It is proposed that the two crossed MOCS actions are extensions of a contrast-enhancement action for low-level noise bands. It is also proposed that the UMOCS plays a state-restoration role to prevent an undesired CMOCS side-effect of exacerbation of high-side TTSs to high-level noise bands.