Therapeutic effect of edaravone on inner ear barotrauma in the guinea pig

Inner ear barotrauma (IEB) that is caused by acute pressure changes can often lead to permanent severe sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). However, the mechanism that causes IEB is still unknown. In the current study, we assessed the involvement of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in IEB and the therapeutic effect of 3-methyl 1-phenyl-2-pyrazolin-5-one (edaravone), which is a free radical scavenger. To create the IEB model, guinea pigs were subjected to quick pressure changes that resulted in acute SNHL. The animals were then divided into two groups, an edaravone-treated IEB group and a non-treated IEB group that only received normal saline. Immunohistochemical analyses for 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) and 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (4-HNE) were performed to examine the amount of oxidative DNA damage and lipid peroxidation that occurred in guinea pig cochlea. To assess the curative efficacy of edaravone, auditory brainstem response (ABR) testing was performed to evaluate auditory function. Strong immunoreactivities against 8-OHdG and 4-HNE were observed in the inner ear tissues of the non-treated IEB group. Lesser amounts of immunoreactivity were observed in the same region of the edaravone-treated IEB group as compared to the non-treated IEB group. Furthermore, ABR measurement revealed that there was a faster improvement in the threshold shift for the edaravone-treated IEB group as compared to that of the non-treated IEB group. At the final 7-week time point, the threshold shift for the edaravone-treated IEB group was significantly smaller as compared to the non-treated IEB group. These results strongly suggest that ROS is produced in the cochlea in response to acute pressure changes and that ROS plays an important role in the pathophysiology of IEB. Furthermore, edaravone treatment had a therapeutic effect on IEB-induced acute SNHL and thus, edaravone might possibly be able to be used as a therapeutic treatment for IEB.