Neural Regeneration Research ›› 2022, Vol. 17 ›› Issue (12): 2750-2754.doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.339499

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Involvement of NLRP3-inflammasome pathway in noise-induced hearing loss

Na Sai1, 2, 3, 4, #, Yuan-Yuan Yang5, #, Long Ma6, Da Liu1, 2 ,3, 4, Qing-Qing Jiang1, 2, 3, 4, Wei-Wei Guo1, 2, 3, 4, *, Wei-Ju Han1, 2, 3, 4, *   

  1. 1College of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China; 2National Clinical Research Center for Otolaryngologic Diseases, Beijing, China; 3Key Laboratory of Hearing Science, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China; 4Beijing Key Laboratory of Hearing Impairment for Prevention and Treatment, Beijing, China; 5Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China; 6PLA Rocket Force Characteristic Medical Center Department of Stomatology, China
  • Online:2022-12-15 Published:2022-05-05
  • Contact: Wei-Wei Guo, MD, gwent001@163.com; Wei-Ju Han, MD, PhD, hanweiju@aliyun.com.
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China, No. 2020YFC2005200 (to WWG and WJH), the National Nature Science Foundation of China, Nos. 81770992 (to NS and WJH), 81970897 (to WWG), and Health and Family Planning System Research Project of Shenzhen Municipality, No. SZXJ2018079 (to YYY), Shenzhen Sanming Project, No. SZSM201612076 (to YYY).

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Abstract: The inflammasome is a multiprotein oligomer in the cell cytoplasm and is part of the innate immune system. It plays a crucial role in the pathological process of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). However, the mechanisms of NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome activation in NIHL have not been clearly demonstrated. In this study, miniature pigs were exposed to white noise at 120 dB(A) and auditory brainstem response measurements were used to measure their hearing function. Immunofluorescence staining, confocal laser scanning microscopy, western blot assay, and quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction were used to analyze inflammasome-related protein distribution and expression. NLRP3, interleukin-1β, interleukin-18, and cleaved-caspase-1 were highly expressed in the cochlea after 120 dB(A) white noise exposure. Our findings suggest that NLRP3-inflammasomes in the cochlea may be activated after acoustic trauma, which may be an important mechanism of noise-induced hearing loss.

Key words: acoustic injury, inflammasome, interleukin-1β, miniature pig, NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3), noise-induced hearing loss, sensorineural hearing loss