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Development of auditory deficits in a rat model of placental insufficiency
Author(s) -
Gilbert Jeffrey S.,
Soldner Emma L.B.,
Fitzakerley Janet L.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.24.1_supplement.982.8
Subject(s) - offspring , placental insufficiency , medicine , hearing loss , brainstem , auditory brainstem response , audiology , auditory system , cochlea , physiology , endocrinology , fetus , pregnancy , placenta , biology , genetics
Growth restricted infants are at increased risk of auditory dysfunction, although the cause of these acoustic deficits is not understood. In the present study, a well‐established surgical model of chronic placental insufficiency was used to test the hypothesis that prenatal growth restriction causes cochlear and/or central auditory system dysfunction. The hearing of the offspring of normal pregnant (NP) and reduced uterine perfusion pressure (RUPP) rats was evaluated at 4 and 8 postnatal weeks of age using the auditory brainstem response (ABR) technique. 4‐week‐old RUPP and NP offspring had similar thresholds at all frequencies tested between 1 to 32 kHz. At 8 weeks of age, male RUPP rats developed a mild to moderate hearing loss (15–30 dB) at several frequencies, while the thresholds of female RUPP rats were unchanged. Analysis of interpeak intervals did not indicate any peripheral or central processing changes in the RUPP animals at either age. The delay in the onset of the cochlear deficits may indicate that the hearing loss observed in male RUPP rats is subsequent to other perinatal changes, such as the development of hypertension or glucose intolerance.