Expression of immediate-early genes in the inferior colliculus and auditory cortex in salicylate-induced tinnitus in rat

Submitted: 3 September 2013
Accepted: 31 January 2014
Published: 12 March 2014
Abstract Views: 2458
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Tinnitus could be associated with neuronal hyperactivity in the auditory center. As a neuronal activity marker, immediate-early gene (IEG) expression is considered part of a general neuronal response to natural stimuli. Some IEGs, especially the activity-dependent cytoskeletal protein (Arc) and the early growth response gene-1 (Egr-1), appear to be highly correlated with sensory-evoked neuronal activity. We hypothesize, therefore, an increase of Arc and Egr-1 will be observed in a tinnitus model. In our study, we used the gap prepulse inhibition of acoustic startle (GPIAS) paradigm to confirm that salicylate induces tinnitus-like behavior in rats. However, expression of the Arc gene and Egr-1 gene were decreased in the inferior colliculus (IC) and auditory cortex (AC), in contradiction of our hypothesis. Expression of N-methyl d-aspartate receptor subunit 2B (NR2B) was increased and all of these changes returned to normal 14 days after treatment with salicylate ceased. These data revealed long-time administration of salicylate induced tinnitus markedly but reversibly and caused neural plasticity changes in the IC and the AC. Decreased expression of Arc and Egr-1 might be involved with instability of synaptic plasticity in tinnitus.

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Supporting Agencies

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos 81170917 and 30973298) and by the Creative Project of the Shanghai Municipal Education Committee (grant no. 12ZZ103) to Zhi-Wu Huang

How to Cite

Hu, S., Mei, L., Chen, J., Huang, Z., & Wu, H. (2014). Expression of immediate-early genes in the inferior colliculus and auditory cortex in salicylate-induced tinnitus in rat. European Journal of Histochemistry, 58(1). https://doi.org/10.4081/ejh.2014.2294