Figure 9
Bucillamine protects sensory hair cells from cisplatin in rat primary organ of Corti explants and prevents hearing loss in adult mice. (a) Organ of Corti explants were dissected into three parts—basal, middle and apex turns—and treated with 20 μM cisplatin alone, 2 mM bucillamine or cisplatin for 30 h. Cultures were stained with tetramethylrhodamine isothiocyanate-conjugated phalloidin and then observed under a fluorescence microscope. (b) Auditory-brainstem-evoked response (ABR) thresholds were measured 3 days after i.p. injection of cisplatin only (back bar, n=5), cisplatin plus bucillamine (hatch bar, n=5), bucillamine only (dot bar, n=5) and control (saline) only (white bar, n=5). (c) Click thresholds were measured using the same mice groups in (b). ABR threshold changes were compared with the basal level in the control mice injected with saline. Values are shown as the mean±s.e.m. * Indicates significant (P<0.05) compared with the control (saline) group.
