Changes of ground substance in the inner ear in alloxan diabetic mice.

One of the important substances in the ground substance is acidic glycosaminoglycans (AGAGs). Changes of AGAGs in the inner ear and in other organs were investigated using alloxan diabetic mice in order to contribute to the understanding of diabetic hearing impairment. In the diabetic group, gradual increases of AGAGs were observed in each tissue. On the 60th day after alloxan injection, AGAG values were increased 3.5-fold in the cochlea, 2.5-fold in the brain, 13-fold in the liver, twofold in the kidney, and fivefold in the pancreas compared with the control values. It is interesting to note that both the cochlea and pancreas showed continuous increases of AGAGs.