Skip to main content

Umbrella menu

  • SfN.org
  • eNeuro
  • The Journal of Neuroscience
  • Neuronline
  • BrainFacts.org

Main menu

  • HOME
  • CONTENT
    • Early Release
    • Featured
    • Current Issue
    • Issue Archive
    • Collections
  • ALERTS
  • FOR AUTHORS
    • Preparing a Manuscript
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Fees
    • Journal Club
    • eLetters
    • Submit
  • EDITORIAL BOARD
  • ABOUT
    • Overview
    • Advertise
    • For the Media
    • Rights and Permissions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Feedback
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • SfN.org
  • eNeuro
  • The Journal of Neuroscience
  • Neuronline
  • BrainFacts.org

User menu

  • Log in
  • Subscribe
  • My alerts
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
Journal of Neuroscience
  • Log in
  • Subscribe
  • My alerts
  • My Cart
Journal of Neuroscience

Advanced Search

Submit a Manuscript
  • HOME
  • CONTENT
    • Early Release
    • Featured
    • Current Issue
    • Issue Archive
    • Collections
  • ALERTS
  • FOR AUTHORS
    • Preparing a Manuscript
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Fees
    • Journal Club
    • eLetters
    • Submit
  • EDITORIAL BOARD
  • ABOUT
    • Overview
    • Advertise
    • For the Media
    • Rights and Permissions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Feedback
  • SUBSCRIBE
PreviousNext
Research Articles, Neurobiology of Disease

Synaptopathy in the Aging Cochlea: Characterizing Early-Neural Deficits in Auditory Temporal Envelope Processing

Aravindakshan Parthasarathy and Sharon G. Kujawa
Journal of Neuroscience 8 August 2018, 38 (32) 7108-7119; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3240-17.2018
Aravindakshan Parthasarathy
Department of Otolaryngology and Eaton–Peabody Laboratories, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Aravindakshan Parthasarathy
Sharon G. Kujawa
Department of Otolaryngology and Eaton–Peabody Laboratories, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • eLetters
  • PDF
Loading

Abstract

Aging listeners, even in the absence of overt hearing loss measured as changes in hearing thresholds, often experience impairments processing temporally complex sounds such as speech in noise. Recent evidence has shown that normal aging is accompanied by a progressive loss of synapses between inner hair cells and auditory nerve fibers. The role of this cochlear synaptopathy in degraded temporal processing with age is not yet understood. Here, we used population envelope following responses, along with other hair cell- and neural-based measures from an age-graded series of male and female CBA/CaJ mice to study changes in encoding stimulus envelopes. By comparing responses obtained before and after the application of the neurotoxin ouabain to the inner ear, we demonstrate that we can study changes in temporal processing on either side of the cochlear synapse. Results show that deficits in neural coding with age emerge at the earliest neural stages of auditory processing and are correlated with the degree of cochlear synaptopathy. These changes are seen before losses in neural thresholds and particularly affect the suprathreshold processing of sound. Responses obtained from more central sources show smaller differences with age, suggesting compensatory gain. These results show that progressive cochlear synaptopathy is accompanied by deficits in temporal coding at the earliest neural generators and contribute to the suprathreshold sound processing deficits observed with age.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Aging listeners often experience difficulty hearing and understanding speech in noisy conditions. The results described here suggest that age-related loss of cochlear synapses may be a significant contributor to those performance declines. We observed aberrant neural coding of sounds in the early auditory pathway, which was accompanied by and correlated with an age-progressive loss of synapses between the inner hair cells and the auditory nerve. Deficits first appeared before changes in hearing thresholds and were largest at higher sound levels relevant to real world communication. The noninvasive tests described here may be adapted to detect cochlear synaptopathy in the clinical setting.

  • aging
  • auditory nerve
  • compensatory gain
  • EFR
  • hidden hearing loss
  • synaptopathy
View Full Text
Back to top

In this issue

The Journal of Neuroscience: 38 (32)
Journal of Neuroscience
Vol. 38, Issue 32
8 Aug 2018
  • Table of Contents
  • Table of Contents (PDF)
  • About the Cover
  • Index by author
  • Advertising (PDF)
  • Ed Board (PDF)
Email

Thank you for sharing this Journal of Neuroscience article.

NOTE: We request your email address only to inform the recipient that it was you who recommended this article, and that it is not junk mail. We do not retain these email addresses.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Synaptopathy in the Aging Cochlea: Characterizing Early-Neural Deficits in Auditory Temporal Envelope Processing
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from Journal of Neuroscience
(Your Name) thought you would be interested in this article in Journal of Neuroscience.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Print
View Full Page PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Citation Tools
Synaptopathy in the Aging Cochlea: Characterizing Early-Neural Deficits in Auditory Temporal Envelope Processing
Aravindakshan Parthasarathy, Sharon G. Kujawa
Journal of Neuroscience 8 August 2018, 38 (32) 7108-7119; DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3240-17.2018

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Respond to this article
Request Permissions
Share
Synaptopathy in the Aging Cochlea: Characterizing Early-Neural Deficits in Auditory Temporal Envelope Processing
Aravindakshan Parthasarathy, Sharon G. Kujawa
Journal of Neuroscience 8 August 2018, 38 (32) 7108-7119; DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3240-17.2018
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Abstract
    • Introduction
    • Materials and Methods
    • Results
    • Discussion
    • Footnotes
    • References
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • eLetters
  • PDF

Keywords

  • aging
  • auditory nerve
  • compensatory gain
  • EFR
  • hidden hearing loss
  • synaptopathy

Responses to this article

Respond to this article

Jump to comment:

No eLetters have been published for this article.

Related Articles

Cited By...

More in this TOC Section

Research Articles

  • The phosphoprotein Synapsin Ia regulates the kinetics of dense-core vesicle release
  • Tuba Activates Cdc42 during Neuronal Polarization Downstream of the Small GTPase Rab8a
  • Frontotemporal Regulation of Subjective Value to Suppress Impulsivity in Intertemporal Choices
Show more Research Articles

Neurobiology of Disease

  • Complement Drives Synaptic Degeneration and Progressive Cognitive Decline in the Chronic Phase after Traumatic Brain Injury
  • Reduction of Glut1 in the neural retina but not the RPE alleviates polyol accumulation and normalizes early characteristics of diabetic retinopathy
  • Traumatic Brain Injury Causes Chronic Cortical Inflammation and Neuronal Dysfunction Mediated by Microglia
Show more Neurobiology of Disease
  • Home
  • Alerts
  • Visit Society for Neuroscience on Facebook
  • Follow Society for Neuroscience on Twitter
  • Follow Society for Neuroscience on LinkedIn
  • Visit Society for Neuroscience on Youtube
  • Follow our RSS feeds

Content

  • Early Release
  • Current Issue
  • Issue Archive
  • Collections

Information

  • For Authors
  • For Advertisers
  • For the Media
  • For Subscribers

About

  • About the Journal
  • Editorial Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Feedback
(JNeurosci logo)
(SfN logo)

Copyright © 2021 by the Society for Neuroscience.
JNeurosci Online ISSN: 1529-2401

The ideas and opinions expressed in JNeurosci do not necessarily reflect those of SfN or the JNeurosci Editorial Board. Publication of an advertisement or other product mention in JNeurosci should not be construed as an endorsement of the manufacturer’s claims. SfN does not assume any responsibility for any injury and/or damage to persons or property arising from or related to any use of any material contained in JNeurosci.