Lipoic acid rescues DBA mice from early-onset age-related hearing impairment

Neuroreport. 2008 Aug 27;19(13):1265-9. doi: 10.1097/WNR.0b013e328308b338.

Abstract

We fed DBA mice with alpha-lipoic acid (100 mg/kg body weight/day), beginning 2, 4, or 8 weeks after birth. Hearing thresholds were measured weekly. At 12 weeks after birth, control mice not fed with alpha-lipoic acid showed significant hearing decreases at all frequencies. In contrast, mice fed with alpha-lipoic acid beginning at 2 weeks after birth showed significantly better hearing at all frequencies. Mice fed with alpha-lipoic acid beginning at 4 and 8 weeks after birth also showed significantly better hearing than control mice after they were fed with alpha-lipoic acid. The stria vascularis of mice fed with alpha-lipoic acid showed reduced 8-oxoguanine residues in DNA and cytoplasm compared with that of control mice. Western blotting showed that the level of hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha was lower in mice fed with alpha-lipoic acid than in control mice. From these results, we suggest that alpha-lipoic acid prevented early-onset hearing impairment in DBA mice.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Age Factors
  • Animals
  • Antioxidants / metabolism
  • Antioxidants / therapeutic use
  • Auditory Threshold / drug effects
  • Auditory Threshold / physiology
  • Blotting, Western
  • Guanine / analogs & derivatives
  • Guanine / metabolism
  • Hearing / drug effects*
  • Hearing / physiology
  • Hearing Loss / physiopathology
  • Hearing Loss / prevention & control*
  • Hearing Tests / methods
  • Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred DBA
  • Stria Vascularis / drug effects
  • Stria Vascularis / metabolism
  • Thioctic Acid / metabolism
  • Thioctic Acid / therapeutic use*

Substances

  • Antioxidants
  • Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit
  • 8-hydroxyguanine
  • Guanine
  • Thioctic Acid