Research Paper Volume 13, Issue 9 pp 12587—12606
Neural presbycusis at ultra-high frequency in aged common marmosets and rhesus monkeys
- 1 Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200011, P.R. China
- 2 Ear Institute, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200011, P.R. China
- 3 Shanghai Key Laboratory of Translation Medicine on Ear and Nose Disease, Shanghai 200011, P.R. China
- 4 Institute of Neuroscience, Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, P.R. China
- 5 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, P.R. China
Received: November 6, 2020 Accepted: March 5, 2021 Published: April 27, 2021
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.202936How to Cite
Abstract
The aging of the population and environmental noise have contributed to high rates of presbycusis, also known as age-related hearing loss (ARHL). Because mice have a relatively short life span, murine models have not been suitable for determining the mechanism of presbycusis development and methods of diagnosis. Although the common marmoset, a non-human primate (NHP), is an ideal animal model for studying age-related diseases, its auditory spectrum has not been systematically studied. Auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) from 38 marmosets of different ages demonstrated that auditory function correlated with age. Hearing loss in geriatric common marmosets started at ultra-high frequency (>16 kHz), then extended to lower frequencies. Despite age-related deterioration of ABR threshold and amplitude in marmosets, outer hair cell (OHC) function remained stable at all ages. Spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs), which are the first auditory neurons in the auditory system, were found to degenerate distinctly in aged common marmosets, indicating that neural degeneration caused presbycusis in these animals. Similarly, age-associated ABR deterioration without loss of OHC function was observed in another NHP, rhesus monkeys. Audiometry results from these two species of NHP suggested that NHPs were ideal for studying ARHL and that neural presbycusis at high frequency may be prevalent in primates.