Hearing assessment during deep brain stimulation of the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus and dentate cerebellar nucleus in rat

Background. Recently it has been shown in animal studies that deep brain stimulation (DBS) of auditory structures was able to reduce tinnitus-like behavior. However, the question arises whether hearing might be impaired when interfering in auditory-related network loops with DBS.

Methods. The auditory brainstern response (ABR) was measured in rats during high frequency stimulation (HFS) and low frequency stimulation (LFS) in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus (CIC, n = 5) or dentate cerebellar nucleus (DCBN, n = 5). Besides hearing thresholds using ABR, relative measures of latency and amplitude can be extracted from the ABR. In this study ABR thresholds, interpeak latencies (I-III, III-V, I-V) and V/I amplitude ratio were measured during off-stimulation state and during LFS and HFS.

Results. In both the CIC and the CNBN groups, no significant differences were observed for all outcome measures.

Discussion. DBS in both the CIC and the CNBN did not have adverse effects on hearing measurements. These findings suggest that DBS does not hamper physiological processing in the auditory circuitry.