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Updated: Aug 18, 2026
Performing Repeated Intraoperative Impedance Telemetry Measurements during Cochlear Implantation
Published on: August 4, 2023
[The cochlear implant. Molecular arguments favouring early implantation]
1Neurobiologisches Forschungslabor der Universitäts-HNO-Klinik Freiburg.
Background:
An important factor in the clinical outcome of cochlear implantation is the age of the patient. Compared to older patients, children with congenital deafness have a better outcome when the implantation is made before the age of 2 years. The cause may lie in the molecular biology of the brain, which changes during postnatal maturation.
Methods:
Protein probes were obtained from tissue of the rat inferior colliculus at different ages. The probes were analyzed using 2-dimensional SDS electrophoresis.
Results:
The expression of GAP-43, a protein expressed by neurons during axonal outgrowth and synaptogenesis, and the total number of the protein species showed a significant reduction during ontogenesis. This shows that while neurons gradually assume their specific function, they downregulate GAP-43 and the molecular complexity decreases.
Conclusions:
Due to a lack of neuronal pluripotency at later developmental stages, the flexibility to adapt to the afferent activation provided by a cochlear implant is increasingly limited.