A Review on Peripheral Tinnitus, Causes, and Treatments from the Perspective of Autophagy

• Published in: Experimental neurobiology Vol. 31; no. 4; pp. 232 - 242
• Main Authors: Vijayakumar, Karthikeyan A, Cho, Gwang-Won, Maharajan, Nagarajan, Jang, Chul Ho
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Korean Society for Brain and Neural Sciences 31.08.2022; 한국뇌신경과학회
• Subjects: Review; 뇌과학
• ISSN: 1226-2560; 2093-8144
• DOI: 10.5607/en22002

Tinnitus is the perception of phantom noise without any external auditory sources. The degeneration of the function or activity of the peripheral or central auditory nervous systems is one of the causes of tinnitus. This damage has numerous causes, such as loud noise, aging, and ototoxicity. All these sources excite the cells of the auditory pathway, producing reactive oxygen species that leads to the death of sensory neural hair cells. This causes involuntary movement of the tectorial membrane, resulting in the buzzing noise characteristic of tinnitus. Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved catabolic scavenging activity inside a cell that has evolved as a cell survival mechanism. Numerous studies have demonstrated the effect of autophagy against oxidative stress, which is one of the reasons for cell excitation. This review compiles several studies that highlight the role of autophagy in protecting sensory neural hair cells against oxidative stress-induced damage. This could facilitate the development of strategies to treat tinnitus by activating autophagy.Tinnitus is the perception of phantom noise without any external auditory sources. The degeneration of the function or activity of the peripheral or central auditory nervous systems is one of the causes of tinnitus. This damage has numerous causes, such as loud noise, aging, and ototoxicity. All these sources excite the cells of the auditory pathway, producing reactive oxygen species that leads to the death of sensory neural hair cells. This causes involuntary movement of the tectorial membrane, resulting in the buzzing noise characteristic of tinnitus. Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved catabolic scavenging activity inside a cell that has evolved as a cell survival mechanism. Numerous studies have demonstrated the effect of autophagy against oxidative stress, which is one of the reasons for cell excitation. This review compiles several studies that highlight the role of autophagy in protecting sensory neural hair cells against oxidative stress-induced damage. This could facilitate the development of strategies to treat tinnitus by activating autophagy.