Volume 14 Supplement 1

6th International Conference on cGMP: Generators, Effectors and Therapeutic Implications

Oral presentation
Open Access

cGMP-Prkg1 signaling PDE5 inhibition shelter cochlear hair cells and hearing function

  • Marlies Knipper1Email author,
  • Mirko Jaumann1,
  • Francois Paquet-Durand3,
  • Peter Ruth6,
  • Peter Sandner7,
  • Robert Feil2,
  • Jutta Engel4, 5 and
  • Lukas Rüttiger1
BMC Pharmacology and Toxicology201314(Suppl 1):O27

https://doi.org/10.1186/2050-6511-14-S1-O27

©  Knipper et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2013

Published: 29 August 2013

Background

Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is a global health hazard with considerable pathophysiological and social consequences that has no effective treatment. In the heart, lung and other organs, cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) facilitates protective processes in response to traumatic events.

Results

We therefore analyzed NIHL in mice with a genetic deletion of the gene encoding cGMP-dependent protein kinase type I (Prkg1) and found a greater vulnerability to and markedly less recovery from NIHL in these mice as compared to mice without the deletion. Prkg1 was expressed in the sensory cells and neurons of the inner ear of wild-type mice, and its expression partly overlapped with the expression profile of cGMP-hydrolyzing phosphodiesterase 5 (Pde5). Treatment of rats and wild-type mice with the Pde5 inhibitor vardenafil almost completely prevented NIHL and caused a Prkg1-dependent upregulation of poly (ADP-ribose) in hair cells and the spiral ganglion, suggesting an endogenous protective cGMP-Prkg1 signaling pathway that culminates in the activation of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase.

Conclusion

These data suggest vardenafil or related drugs as possible candidates for the treatment of NIHL.

Declarations

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Marie Curie Research Training Network CavNET MRTN-CT-2006-035367, the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) G54_Rüttiger, the Hahn Stiftung (Index AG), the Graduate Program of the University of Tübingen, the Landesgraduiertenförderung Baden-Württemberg, Germany, the Kerstan Stiftung and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) PA1751/1-1 and DFG Fe 438/2, the Fortüne Program of the University Tübingen.

Authors’ Affiliations

(1)
University of Tübingen, Department of Otolaryngology, Tübingen Hearing Research Centre (THRC), Molecular Physiology of Hearing
(2)
University of Tübingen, Interfaculty Institute of Biochemistry
(3)
University of Tübingen, Centre for Ophthalmology, Institute for Ophthalmic Research, Division of Experimental Ophthalmology
(4)
University of Tübingen, Institute of Physiology II
(5)
Department of Biophysics, Medical Faculty, Saarland University
(6)
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Tübingen, Institute of Pharmacy
(7)
Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Global Drug Discovery - Common Mechanism Research, Pharma Research Centre Wuppertal

Copyright

© Knipper et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2013

This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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