Neuartige Analysemethode zur Bestimmung der neuralen Aktivierungsfunktion der inneren Haarzelle

Zusammenfassung

Hintergrund

Sensorineurale Hörstörungen (SNH) sind einer der häufigsten Gründe von Schwerhörigkeit. Eine besondere Form der SNH ist die versteckte Schwerhörigkeit (HHL) bei subjektiver Normakusis. Aktuelle Forschungsergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass bei diesen Patienten eine reduzierte Welle I im gemittelten Signal der Hirnstammaudiometrie (ABR) vorliegt. Da die Mittelungstechnik für Latenzjitter und Amplitudenhöhenvariation unempfindlich ist, wird zur Beantwortung einer weitergehenden Fragestellung eine Single-Sweep-Analyse benötigt.

Material und Methoden

Insgesamt wurden 14 Mäuse mit signifikant unterschiedlichen Kalziumströmen in den IHC bei normvarianter Hörschwelle für die Analyse genutzt, um im Zeitfenster der Welle I 4 neue Parameter aus den Single Sweeps zu berechnen. Diese dienten gleichzeitig zur Beschreibung einer neuralen Aktivierungsfunktion (NAV).

Ergebnisse

Alle neuen Parameter zeigen im Stimulus-abhängigen Vergleich beim Wildtyp signifikante bzw. hoch signifikante Unterschiede auf. Bei der transgenen Maus sind es signifikante bzw. nicht signifikante Unterschiede. In der neuralen Aktivität des Ruhe-EEGs zwischen der Wildtypmaus und der Mutante gibt es einen signifikanten Unterschied. Die Mittelwerte der Wellenamplituden bei der Wildtypmaus verhalten sich dabei kontrovers.

Schlussfolgerung

Unter Ausnutzung von Single Sweeps werden innovative Ergebnisse dargestellt, die bis dato so nicht bekannt sind. Offensichtlich ist nicht die Amplitudenhöhe der Welle I für die Funktion der IHC alleinig verantwortlich, sondern besonders noch die neuen Parameter. Für die Diagnose von Hörstörungen mit normvarianter Hörschwelle scheinen die neuen Parameter hervorragend geeignet zu sein.

Abstract

Objectives

Sensorineural hearing loss (SNH) is one of the most common forms of hearing loss. A special form of SNH is hidden hearing loss (HHL) with subjective normal hearing. Current research results indicate that these patients demonstrate a reduced wave I in the averaged signal of brainstem audiometry (ABR). Since the averaging technique is not susceptible to latency jitter and amplitude height variation, a single sweep analysis is required for a deeper insight in HHL.

Material and methods

A total of 14 mice with significantly different calcium currents in the IHC at normal hearing thresholds were analysed. For the analysis in order to calculate four new parameters from the single sweeps in the time window of wave I. These parameters also served to describe a neural activation function (NAV).

Results

Looking at the wild type all new parameters differ significantly or highly significantly. With the transgenic mouse, there are only non-significant to significant differences. There is also a significant difference in the neural activity demonstrated in the resting EEG between the wild-type mouse and the mutant. There is a negative correlation between the wave amplitudes for the wild mouse – after a strong amplitude follows a weak amplitude and after weak amplitude follows a strong amplitude.

Conclusions

Using new parameters based on single sweeps, surprising results are obtained. Obviously the function of the IHC correlates more strongly with the new parameters than it does with the average amplitude of wave I. The new parameters appear to be excellently suited for the diagnosis of hearing disorders even when hearing thresholds are still according to norm values.

Schlüsselwörter

Ribbonsynapsen - single sweep - Signalenergie - Welle I - ABR - neurale Aktivierungsfunktion - Normakusis - sensorische Hörstörung - innere Haarzelle

Keywords

sensory hearing loss - normal hearing - inner hair cell - single sweep - signal energy - neural activation function - ribbon synapses - wave I - ABR

Publication History

Received: 21 May 2025

Accepted after revision: 11 August 2025

Article published online:
10 October 2025

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