Department of Otolaryngology at UKB, University of Berlin, Charité Medical School, Berlin, Germany.
Noise Health. 2022 Jan-Mar;24(112):1-6. doi: 10.4103/nah.nah_4_21.
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) represents the leading congenital viral infection in humans. Although congenital CMV due to vertically transmitted infections is the main cause of CMV-related diseases, adult CMV infections might still be of clinical significance. It is still discussed how far CMV seropositivity, due to horizontal infection in immunocompetent adults, is able to induce significant dysfunction. The present study investigates in how far CMV seropositivity is an additional risk factor for an increasing susceptibility to sensorineural hearing loss induced by acoustic injury during adulthood in a guinea pig CMV (GPCMV) model of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL).
Two groups (GPCMV seropositive vs. seronegative) of normal hearing adult guinea pigs were exposed to a broadband noise (5-20 kHz) for 2 hours at 115 dB sound pressure level. Frequency-specific auditory brainstem response recordings for determination of auditory threshold shift were carried out and the number of missing outer hair cells was counted 2 weeks after the noise exposure.
The data show a slightly increased shift in auditory thresholds in seropositive animals compared to the seronegative control group in response to noise trauma. However, the observed difference was significant at least at high frequencies. The differences in threshold shift are not correlated with outer hair cell loss between the experimental groups.
The results point to potential additional pathologies in a guinea pig NIHL model in correlation to GPCMV seropositivity, which should be taken into account when assessing risks of latent/reactivated CMV infection. Due to the relatively slight effect in the present data, the aim of future studies should be a more detailed consideration (e.g., larger sample size) and to localize possible target structures as well as the significance of the infection route.
巨细胞病毒（CMV）是人类主要的先天性病毒感染。虽然由垂直传播感染引起的先天性 CMV 是 CMV 相关疾病的主要原因，但成人 CMV 感染仍可能具有临床意义。目前仍在讨论由于免疫功能正常的成年人的水平感染而导致的 CMV 血清阳性率在多大程度上能够引起显著的功能障碍。本研究旨在探讨 CMV 血清阳性率在多大程度上是豚鼠 CMV（GPCMV）噪声诱导听力损失（NIHL）模型中成年后因声学损伤导致感觉神经性听力损失易感性增加的附加危险因素。
两组（GPCMV 血清阳性与血清阴性）正常听力成年豚鼠在 115dB 声压级下暴露于宽带噪声（5-20kHz）2 小时。进行频率特异性听觉脑干反应记录以确定听觉阈值变化，并在噪声暴露后 2 周计数缺失的外毛细胞数量。
数据显示，与血清阴性对照组相比，血清阳性动物对噪声损伤的反应中听觉阈值略有增加。然而，至少在高频时观察到的差异具有统计学意义。实验组之间的阈值变化差异与外毛细胞丢失无关。
结果表明，在 GPCMV 血清阳性豚鼠 NIHL 模型中存在与潜在/再激活 CMV 感染相关的潜在病理学，在评估潜伏/再激活 CMV 感染的风险时应考虑到这一点。由于本研究数据中的影响相对较小，未来研究的目标应该是更详细的考虑（例如，更大的样本量），并定位可能的靶结构以及感染途径的意义。
