Hearing Impairment With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Jan, 2023 - By SMI

A multidisciplinary team of researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina's (MUSC) College of Medicine revealed hearing damage in a preliminary clinic model of autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

The researchers particularly disclose in the Journal of Neuroscience that they discovered modest hearing loss and abnormalities in auditory nerve activity.

A closer look at the nerve tissue revealed aberrant supporting cells known as glia, as well as inflammation and aging-like degeneration   The outcomes of this study emphasise the relevance of understanding ASD by taking into account sensory organs and its interactions with the brain.

Many ASD sufferers have enhanced sensitivity to sound.

Hearing loss may have an effect on the relatively high auditory system and, ultimately, cognitive function," said Hainan Lang, M.D., Ph.D., professor of laboratory medicine and pathology at MUSC.

The researchers focused on the auditory nerve and employed modern microscopes and staining methods to figure out what was wrong. Despite the fact that the general hearing sensitivity decrease was moderate, the researchers were ecstatic to discover a significant change in sensory nerve response.

Mice harbouring a duplicate of MEF2C had cellular degradation similar to that found in age-related loss of hearing. The researchers also discovered indicators of increased inflammation, such as ruptured vascular system and activated immune cells known as glia and macrophages. This discovery surprised the researchers the most.

The findings of this study may be crucial not just for MEF2C defective patients, but also for those with Autism or hearing loss in general.

The researchers want to do more study in the future. The researchers hope to learn more about how MEF2C causes the alterations found in this study in future investigations. The study team also plans to use noninvasive hearing tests to investigate similar findings in people with MEF2C deficiency.

This is the first report of AN impairment in a mice model of human MEF2C haploinsufficiency syndrome, which features well-characterized ASD-related symptoms such as communication difficulties, hyperactivity, repetitive behaviour, and social abnormalities.

Multiple underlying subcellular, cellular, and molecular abnormalities are identified that may lead to peripheral AN dysfunction.

The study's methodological relevance is the development of a comprehensive technique for measuring peripheral AN function and the impact of peripheral AN deficiency in people with modest hearing loss.