Electrophysiological assessment and pharmacological treatment of blast-induced tinnitus
Fig 5
NAC/HPN-07 treatment attenuated chronic blast-induced up-regulation of VR1 in spiral ganglion neurons.
Examples of VR1 immunostaining in spiral ganglia from the naive control group (A), the vehicle-treated, blast-exposed group (B) and the blast-exposed, therapeutic-treated group (C). The number of VR1-positive SGNs were counted and statistically analyzed (D). Statistical significance was determined by ordinary one-way ANOVA (Tukey correction for multiple comparisons). A significantly increased number of VR1-positive neurons were observed in the SG of the vehicle-treated, blast-exposed group (B+P) compared to naive controls (NC, *** p < 0.001). A significant reduction in the number of VR1-positive SGNs was observed in blast-exposed rats treated with NAC/HPN-07 (B+T) compared to the vehicle-treated, blast-exposed group (B+P, *** p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in the number of VR1-positive SGNs between the NC and the B+T groups (p > 0.05). Numbers in parentheses represent the number of animals evaluated in each group. The scale bar in C = 50 μm, applies to A-C.