Hearing loss and impaired short-term memory in an Alzheimer's disease mouse model of amyloid-beta pathology

Zahra Jafari; Navvab Afrashteh; Bryan E Kolb; Majid H Mohajerani

doi:10.1016/j.expneurol.2023.114413

Hearing loss and impaired short-term memory in an Alzheimer's disease mouse model of amyloid-beta pathology

Exp Neurol. 2023 Jul:365:114413. doi: 10.1016/j.expneurol.2023.114413. Epub 2023 Apr 17.

Authors

Zahra Jafari¹, Navvab Afrashteh², Bryan E Kolb³, Majid H Mohajerani⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neuroscience, Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience (CCBN), University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, T1K 3M4, Canada; School of Communication Sciences and Disorders (SCSD), Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, B3H 4R2, Canada.
² Department of Neuroscience, Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience (CCBN), University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, T1K 3M4, Canada.
³ Department of Neuroscience, Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience (CCBN), University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, T1K 3M4, Canada. Electronic address: kolb@uleth.ca.
⁴ Department of Neuroscience, Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience (CCBN), University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, T1K 3M4, Canada. Electronic address: mohajerani@uleth.ca.

PMID: 37075972
DOI: 10.1016/j.expneurol.2023.114413

Abstract

Current evidence supports the link between hearing loss and Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, few studies report the hearing status of AD mice compared to wild-type mice. This study aimed to compare hearing thresholds and short-term memory (STM) performance of an AD (APP^NL-G-F) mouse model of amyloid-beta (Aꞵ) pathology with C57BL/6 J and CBA/CaJ mice across age. The auditory brainstem response (ABR) test, using click and five tone-burst (TB) stimuli, was recorded at 2, 4, 6, 9, and 12 months. The novel object recognition (NOR) test, a measure of STM, was conducted at 6 and 12 months. While hearing thresholds were almost preserved in CBA/CaJ mice, they were not recorded at high frequencies with age in C57BL/6 J and AD mice, leading to island hearing (severe to profound hearing loss) at 9 and 12 months. AD mice showed increased hearing thresholds in TB8 and TB16 kHz at 6 and 9 months compared to C57BL/6 J mice. NOR findings were evidence of impaired STM in both C57BL/6 J and AD mice relative to CBA/CaJ mice, and a relationship was found between hearing thresholds and NOR measures in three groups. The findings were in support of the link between the degree of hearing loss and impaired STM.

Keywords: Age-related hearing loss; Amyloid-beta; Auditory brainstem response; Hearing thresholds; Short-term memory, Alzheimer's disease.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Alzheimer Disease* / complications
Amyloid beta-Peptides
Animals
Deafness*
Disease Models, Animal
Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem
Hearing Loss* / etiology
Memory, Short-Term
Mice
Mice, Inbred C57BL
Mice, Inbred CBA

Substances

Amyloid beta-Peptides

Grants and funding

390930/CIHR/Canada