XKR8基因敲除小鼠可以保护由噪声诱导的听力损伤OA

Objective:To explore the impact of the XKR8 gene on hearing in noise-induced hearing loss(NIHL).Methods:In this experiment,6-8 week old XKR8 homozygous knockout mice(XKR8-/-,XKR8 KO)and wild-type(WT)mice were select-ed.Polymerase chain reaction(PCR),agarose gel electrophoresis,and Western blot were used to determine the genotype of the knockout mice.Mice were divided into non-noise-exposed WT and XKR8 groups,and noise-exposed WT-110 dB and XKR8-110 dB groups.XKR8 KO and WT mice were exposed to broadband noise with a frequency range of 8-20 kHz and an intensity of 110 dB SPL for 2 hours.Auditory brainstem response(ABR)tests were conducted at 1,3,7,14 days after noise exposure.On day 14,after ABR testing,the mice were sacrificed,and their cochleae were dissected and sectioned.Immunofluorescence staining was used to examine the morphology and loss of outer hair cell(OHC).Results:After genotyping,XKR8 KO(XKR8-/-)and WT mice were used for the experiments.ABR test results before noise exposure showed no significant difference in baseline hear-ing between XKR8 KO and WT mice(P>0.05).On day 1 after noise exposure,ABR results indicated that the hearing thresh-olds of both the XKR8-110 dB and WT-110 dB groups were around 85 dB.On days 3,7,14 after noise exposure,the hearing thresholds of the XKR8-110 dB group were lower than those of the WT-110 dB group(P<0.05).Immunofluorescence staining of OHC showed no significant difference between the XKR8-110 dB and WT-110 dB groups in the apex and middle segments(P>0.05).However,in the middle and basal segments,the XKR8-110 dB group had less OHC loss than the WT-110 dB group(P<0.05).Conclusion:After noise exposure,XKR8 KO mice exhibited superior hearing levels compared to WT mice,mitigating noise-induced hearing damage.Immunofluorescence staining revealed that XKR8 KO mice had less OHC loss than WT mice,re-ducing noise-induced OHC damage.