Exploring the cognitive effects of hearing loss in adult rats: Implications for visuospatial attention, social behavior, and prefrontal neural activity

[Display omitted] •Hearing loss in adult deafened rats leads to mild attention deficits and temporary social deficits.•Neuronal activity in the cingulum subregion of the prefrontal cortex is affected by hearing loss.•The expression of GABAergic neurons in the prefrontal cortex remains unaltered subs...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Neuroscience Vol. 564; pp. 97 - 109
Main Authors:	Stenzel, Mariele, Alam, Mesbah, Witte, Marla, Jelinek, Jonas, Armbrecht, Nina, Armstrong, Adrian, Kral, Andrej, Krauss, Joachim K., Land, Rüdiger, Schwabe, Kerstin, Johne, Marie
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Elsevier Inc 09-01-2025
Subjects:	Auditory brainstem response Cognition Hearing loss Immunohistochemistry Medial prefrontal cortex Parvalbumin Ultrasonic vocalization Immunohistochemistry Medial prefrontal cortex Ultrasonic vocalization Auditory brainstem response Cognition Parvalbumin Hearing loss
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	[Display omitted] •Hearing loss in adult deafened rats leads to mild attention deficits and temporary social deficits.•Neuronal activity in the cingulum subregion of the prefrontal cortex is affected by hearing loss.•The expression of GABAergic neurons in the prefrontal cortex remains unaltered subsequent to hearing loss. Age-related hearing loss in humans has been associated with cognitive decline, though the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. We investigated the long-term effects of hearing loss on attention, impulse control, social interaction, and neural activity within medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) subregions. Hearing loss was induced in adult rats via intracochlear neomycin injection (n = 13), with non-operated rats as controls (n = 10). Rats were tested for motor activity (open field), coordination (Rotarod), and social interaction (including ultrasonic vocalization, USV) before surgery and at weeks 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 24 post-surgery. From week 8 on, rats were trained in the five-choice serial reaction time task (5-CSRTT) to assess visuospatial attention and impulse control. Finally, oscillatory neuronal activity in mPFC subregions was recorded with multielectrode arrays during anesthesia, followed by immunohistological staining for NeuN+ and Parvalbumin+ cells. Deafened rats were more active than controls, whereas social interaction and USV were temporarily reduced. They also had difficulties to learn the concept of the 5-CSRTT paradigm and made more incorrect responses. Electrophysiology showed decreased power in theta, alpha, and beta frequency, and enhanced high gamma band in the mPFC in deafened rats, which was most pronounced in the cingulate subregion (Cg1). The number of NeuN+ and Parvalbumin+ cells, however, did not differ between groups. The behavioral deficits together with the altered neuronal activity found in the Cg1 subregion of the mPFC in adult deafened rats may be used as an endophenotype to elucidate the mechanisms behind the cognitive decline seen in older patients with hearing loss.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0306-4522 1873-7544 1873-7544
DOI:	10.1016/j.neuroscience.2024.11.010