gom1 Mutant Mice as a Model of Otitis Media

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-1-2022

Publication Title

Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology : JARO

Keywords

JGM, Auditory-evoked brain stem response, Craniofacial measurement, Inflammation, Mouse model, Otitis media, Tympanometry

JAX Source

J Assoc Res Otolaryngol . 2022 Apr;23(2):213-223.

Volume

23

Issue

2

First Page

213

Last Page

223

PMID

35118601

DOI

10.1007/s10162-022-00838-2

Grant

This work was supported by the National Insti- tutes of Health (R01DC015111 and R21DC005846), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81530030, 81500797, 81873697 and 81700902), and the Taishan Schol- ars Foundation.

Abstract

Otitis media (OM) disease is a common cause of hearing loss that is primarily the result of middle ear infection. At present, our understanding of the mechanisms leading to OM is limited due to the lack of animal models of OM with effusion (OME). Here, we report that the mice with genetic otitis media one (gom1) mutants are prone to OM. gom1 Mice were produced by the N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU) mutagenesis program as an animal model to study OM. These mice demonstrate many common features of OM, such as middle ear effusion and hearing impairment. We revealed that gom1 mice display various signs of middle ear and inner ear dysfunctions, including elevated thresholds of auditory-evoked brainstem response (ABR) and lack of cochlear microphonic responses. Decreased compliance in tympanometry measurements indicates tympanic membrane and ossicular chain malfunction. We confirmed through histological examinations of middle ear structures that 34/34 (100 %) of the mutant mice suffered from severe OME. While individual ears had different levels of effusion and inflammatory cells in the middle ear cavity, all had thickened middle ear mucosa and submucosa compared to control mice (B6). Moreover, the mutant mice displayed cochlear hair cell loss. These observations also suggested the craniofacial abnormalities in the gom1 mouse model. Together, these results indicate that gom1 mice could be valuable for investigating the genetic contribution to the development of middle ear disease.

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