Related Experiment Videos
Effects of aging on C57BL/6J mice: an electrophysiological and morphological study
Maria Visitación Bartolomé1, Castillo Eduardo del, Lorena Maestre López
1Center of Cell Culture (CAI-UCM) and Department of Surgery II (ORL), Faculty of Medicine, University Complutense, Madrid, Spain.
Abstract:
Presbycusis is a progressive hearing loss associated with aging that manifests as deafness linked to cochlear morphological degeneration. The effects of aging on the auditory system were studied in C57BL/6J mice using electrophysiological (brainstem auditory evoked potentials; BAEP) and morphological techniques. Cochleae of animals aged 1, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, or 24 months old were used for that purpose. The BAEP showed a progressive increase in latency and a reduction in amplitude. Morphological studies demonstrated total degeneration of the organ of Corti, which was replaced by a single epithelial layer. An affinity histochemistry study demonstrated minor modifications of glycoconjugates in the organ of Corti during the aging process.