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Metabolic changes in the auditory cortex in presbycusis demonstrated by MR spectroscopy
Oliver Profant1, Zuzana Balogová, Monika Dezortová
1Department of Auditory Neuroscience, Institute of Experimental Medicine, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic. profant@biomed.cas.cz
Experimental Gerontology
|May 8, 2013
Summary
Aging hearing loss (presbycusis) is linked to auditory cortex changes. Elderly subjects showed decreased glutamate and increased lactate, especially with severe hearing loss, indicating central auditory system alterations.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Audiology
- Gerontology
Background:
- Aging causes hearing loss (presbycusis), primarily due to inner ear hair cell loss.
- Central auditory system changes accompanying presbycusis are less understood.
- The auditory cortex's metabolic state during aging and hearing loss requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate metabolite changes in the auditory cortex of young and elderly individuals with varying degrees of presbycusis.
- To correlate central auditory system metabolic alterations with age-related hearing decline.
Main Methods:
- Utilized 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) at 3T to measure auditory cortex metabolites.
- Recruited three subject groups: young (<30 years), elderly (>65 years) with mild presbycusis, and elderly with expressed presbycusis.
- Assessed hearing function using pure tone audiometry across a wide frequency range (125–16,000 Hz).
Main Results:
- Elderly subjects exhibited significantly lower concentrations of glutamate and N-acetylaspartate compared to young subjects.
- Lactate levels were notably elevated in subjects with expressed presbycusis.
- No significant differences in GABA or other measured metabolites were observed between young and elderly groups.
Conclusions:
- Age-related hearing loss is associated with decreased excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate in the auditory cortex.
- Increased lactate in the auditory cortex correlates with the severity of hearing threshold shifts in elderly individuals.
- These findings highlight metabolic changes in the central auditory system accompanying peripheral age-related hearing deterioration.
