Jastreboff P J, Sasaki C T
Department of Surgery, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore 21201.
Am J Otol. 1994 Jan;15(1):19-27.
Although tinnitus affects approximately 9 million people in the United States, a cure remains elusive and the mechanisms of its origin are speculative. The crucial obstacle in tinnitus research has been the lack of an animal model. Over the last decade we have been creating such a model by combining a variety of methodologies, including a behavioral component, to allow for the detection of tinnitus perception. Initially, 2-deoxyglucose had been used to map changes in the metabolic activity after unilateral destruction of the cochlea. It has been found that the initial decrease of the metabolic rate in the auditory nuclei recovered to preoperative values, which could be attributable to the development of tinnitus. The spontaneous activity of single units recorded from the inferior colliculus before and after salicylate administration revealed an increase of discharges, which might reflect the presence of salicylate-induced tinnitus. Recent data have confirmed, and further elaborated this observation, including the discovery of abnormal, epileptic-like, neuronal activity. Finally, the authors have developed a behavioral model of tinnitus, tested it extensively, and used it to measure tinnitus pitch and loudness. The model is presently used for investigating the hypotheses for the mechanisms of tinnitus.
尽管耳鸣在美国影响着约900万人，但治愈方法仍然难以捉摸，其发病机制也只是推测。耳鸣研究中的关键障碍一直是缺乏动物模型。在过去十年中，我们一直在通过结合包括行为成分在内的各种方法来创建这样一个模型，以便能够检测耳鸣感知。最初，2-脱氧葡萄糖被用于绘制单侧耳蜗破坏后代谢活动的变化。已发现听觉核团代谢率的最初下降恢复到术前水平，这可能归因于耳鸣的发展。在水杨酸盐给药前后从下丘记录的单个神经元的自发放电活动显示放电增加，这可能反映了水杨酸盐诱导的耳鸣的存在。最近的数据证实并进一步阐述了这一观察结果，包括发现异常的、癫痫样的神经元活动。最后，作者开发了一种耳鸣行为模型，对其进行了广泛测试，并用于测量耳鸣的音高和响度。该模型目前用于研究耳鸣机制的假说。
