Idebenone Reduces Hearing Loss in Animal Study

A new study has found that the antioxidant idebenone—a synthetic analogue of coenzyme Q10—reduced hearing loss in guinea pigs exposed to noise stress.

Guinea pigs were divided into two groups. Both groups were exposed to a continuous pure tone in order to induce hearing loss (acoustic trauma). In one group of animals, the researchers injected idebenone intraperitoneally one hour before noise exposure and once per day for three days. The other group of untreated animals served as a control.

Guinea pigs treated with idebenone showed significantly smaller auditory threshold shifts than unprotected control animals. Idebenone-treated animals experienced a lesser extent of both cell death and hair cell loss in the organ of Corti in the ear, which contains auditory sensory cells or hair cells.

The researchers wrote, “Our results suggest an antioxidant function of idebenone in protection from noise-induced hearing loss and provide a rationale for exploring therapeutic strategies in humans.”

Reference:
Sergi B, Fetoni AR, Paludetti G, Ferraresi A, Navarra P, Mordente A, Troiani D. Protective properties of idebenone in noise-induced hearing loss in the guinea pig. Neuroreport. 2006 Jun 26;17(9):857-61.

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