Pérez-González David, Schreiner Thomas G, Llano Daniel A, Malmierca Manuel S
Cognitive and Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory (Lab 1), Institute of Neuroscience of Castilla y León (INCYL), University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.
Institute for Biomedical Research of Salamanca (IBSAL), Salamanca, Spain.
Front Neurosci. 2022 Jun 2;16:879480. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2022.879480. eCollection 2022.
Age-related hearing loss is a widespread condition among the elderly, affecting communication and social participation. Given its high incidence, it is not unusual that individuals suffering from age-related hearing loss also suffer from other age-related neurodegenerative diseases, a scenario which severely impacts their quality of life. Furthermore, recent studies have identified hearing loss as a relevant risk factor for the development of dementia due to Alzheimer's disease, although the underlying associations are still unclear. In order to cope with the continuous flow of auditory information, the brain needs to separate repetitive sounds from rare, unexpected sounds, which may be relevant. This process, known as deviance detection, is a key component of the sensory perception theory of predictive coding. According to this framework, the brain would use the available incoming information to make predictions about the environment and signal the unexpected stimuli that break those predictions. Such a system can be easily impaired by the distortion of auditory information processing that accompanies hearing loss. Changes in cholinergic neuromodulation have been found to alter auditory deviance detection both in humans and animal models. Interestingly, some theories propose a role for acetylcholine in the development of Alzheimer's disease, the most common type of dementia. Acetylcholine is involved in multiple neurobiological processes such as attention, learning, memory, arousal, sleep and/or cognitive reinforcement, and has direct influence on the auditory system at the levels of the inferior colliculus and auditory cortex. Here we comment on the possible links between acetylcholine, hearing loss, and Alzheimer's disease, and association that is worth further investigation.
年龄相关性听力损失在老年人中普遍存在，影响沟通和社会参与。鉴于其高发病率，患有年龄相关性听力损失的个体也患有其他与年龄相关的神经退行性疾病并不罕见，这种情况严重影响他们的生活质量。此外，最近的研究已将听力损失确定为阿尔茨海默病所致痴呆症发展的一个相关风险因素，尽管潜在关联仍不明确。为了应对持续不断的听觉信息流，大脑需要将重复的声音与可能相关的罕见、意外声音区分开来。这个过程称为偏差检测，是预测编码感觉知觉理论的关键组成部分。根据这个框架，大脑会利用可用的传入信息对环境做出预测，并对打破这些预测的意外刺激发出信号。这样一个系统很容易因听力损失伴随的听觉信息处理失真而受损。已发现胆碱能神经调节的变化会改变人类和动物模型中的听觉偏差检测。有趣的是，一些理论提出乙酰胆碱在最常见的痴呆类型阿尔茨海默病的发展中起作用。乙酰胆碱参与多种神经生物学过程，如注意力、学习、记忆、觉醒、睡眠和/或认知强化，并在下丘和听觉皮层水平对听觉系统有直接影响。在此，我们评论乙酰胆碱、听力损失和阿尔茨海默病之间可能的联系，这一关联值得进一步研究。
