DEAFNESS due to long-term exposure to noisy environments could one day be a thing of the past. Research in the US has shown that the hearing loss is regulated by enzymes in the inner ear, which could eventually lead to a "deafness vaccine".
In the past, researchers thought that noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) came about when vibrations caused physical damage to the ear. But now Donald Henderson of the State University of New York at Buffalo and his colleagues suggest that the hearing loss is due to chemical changes.
The researchers discovered these changes when they measured concentrations of various enzymes in the cell membranes of the inner ears of chinchillas before and after exposure to noise. It turned out that following exposure to noise, the levels of a family of enzymes related to the antioxidant glutathione, which mops up free radicals, increased by as much as 40 per cent. ...
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