Age-related changes in the zebrafish and killifish inner ear and lateral line

Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) is a debilitating disorder for millions worldwide. While there are multiple underlying causes of ARHL, one common factor is loss of sensory hair cells. In mammals, new hair cells are not produced postnatally and do not regenerate after damage, leading to permanent hearing impairment. By contrast, fish produce hair cells throughout life and robustly regenerate these cells after toxic insult. Despite these regenerative abilities, zebrafish show features of ARHL. Here, we show that aged zebrafish of both sexes exhibited significant hair cell loss and decreased cell proliferation in all inner ear epithelia (saccule, lagena, utricle). Ears from aged zebrafish had increased expression of pro-inflammatory genes and significantly more macrophages than ears from young adult animals. Aged zebrafish also had fewer lateral line hair cells and less cell proliferation than young animals, although lateral line hair cells still robustly regenerated following damage. Unlike zebrafish, African turquoise killifish (an emerging aging model) only showed hair cell loss in the saccule of aged males, but both sexes exhibit age-related changes in the lateral line. Our work demonstrates that zebrafish exhibit key features of auditory aging, including hair cell loss and increased inflammation. Further, our finding that aged zebrafish have fewer lateral line hair cells yet retain regenerative capacity, suggests a decoupling of homeostatic hair cell addition from regeneration following acute trauma. Finally, zebrafish and killifish show species-specific strategies for lateral line homeostasis that may inform further comparative research on aging in mechanosensory systems.