Study of epigentic mechanism underlying age-related hearing loss

听觉功能对社会交流很重要。本研究揭示了啮齿动物和灵长类动物听觉上皮的表观遗传调控机制。在进行性/年龄相关性听力损失小鼠模型DBA/2J中，发现几个基因在听力损失进展过程中改变听觉上皮的基因组甲基化水平和转录水平。用改变表观遗传机制的药物治疗动物成功地减轻了听力损失的进展。

Auditory function is important for social communication. This study revealed evidence of epigenetic regulatory mechanism in rodent and primate auditory sensory epithelia. In DBA/2J, a mouse model of progressive/age-related hearing loss, several genes were found to change the genomic methylation levels as well as transcritpion levels in the auditory epithelium during progress of hearing loss. Treatment of the animals with drugs to modfy epigenetic mechanism successfully attenuated the progress of hearing loss.