The effect of celecoxib, a cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor on noise- induced hearing loss

Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is the major cause of acquired hearing loss. Celecoxib, a cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor, is a non- steroidal anti- inflammatory drug (NSAID) with known antioxidant and antineoplastic activity. Therefore, we monitored the extent of temporary noise- induced threshold shifts (TTS) and cochlear damage caused by high level 4- kHz noise exposure to verify the differences with those pretreated with celecoxib.

Ten male albino guinea pigs (300-350 g in weight) were randomly allocated into two groups: the primal group was exposed to 4- kHz octave band noise at 102 dB SPL for 3 hrs (group 1, n=5); the latter pretreated with 50 mg/ kg celecoxib for 3 days, then exposed to noise (group 2, n=5). Before exposure and one hr after noise exposure, threshold shifts were evaluated with auditory brainstem responses (ABR) and finally the animals were euthanized for histological evaluation.

Comparing the threshold shifts before/after noise exposure with those pretreated, we found out that TTS caused by noise exposure did not show significant mitigation by celecoxib. By observing the organ of Corti at lower middle turn of cochlea in celecoxib pretreated group, considerable hair cell loss was discovered.

The current study clearly confirmed that celecoxib had no attenuation against temporary noise-induced hearing loss.