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Willie K. Yee, MD[_3_]
March 30th 07, 10:41 PM
(in guinea pigs)

Life Extension Update Exclusive

Nutrient combo helps prevent hearing loss

A report published online in the journal Free Radical Biology and
Medicine described the discovery of researchers at the University of
Michigan that including a combination of antioxidant vitamins and
magnesium in one’s nutritional regimen may help prevent noise-induced
hearing loss.

Josef M. Miller MD, who is a professor in the Department of
Otolaryngology at the University’s Medical School, along with Colleen
G. Le Prell, PhD and Larry F. Hughes treated guinea pigs with one of
the following: vitamins A, C and E; magnesium; A, C and E plus
magnesium, or a placebo one hour before and five days after a five
hour exposure to 120 decibel sound pressure level noise (comparable to
a jet engine at take-off). Although neither antioxidants nor magnesium
alone appeared to be protective, animals that received both had
significantly less hearing loss and sensory cell death than the other
groups. The finding may be useful in developing a protective
nutritional therapy for men and women whose employment involves
significant exposure to noise, such as military occupations.

The protective mechanisms produced by pretreatment with the nutrients
are a reduction in free radicals that form in the cochlea of the inner
ear during and after noise exposure, and decreased constriction of
blood flow to the inner ear. The nutrients may also have minimized
damage to the auditory neurons caused by overstimulation. Treatment
administered after noise exposure scavenged the free radicals that
continue to from. "Free radical formation bursts initially, then peaks
again during the days after exposure," Dr Le Prell explained.

"These agents have been used for many years, but not for hearing loss.
We know they’re safe, so that opens the door to push ahead with
clinical trials with confidence we’re not going to do any harm," Dr
Miller stated. "Ultimately, we envision soldiers would have a
nutritional bar with meals and it would give them adequate daily
protection."

"Other people would likely benefit by consuming a pill or nutritional
bar before going to work in noisy environments, or attending noisy
events like NASCAR races or rock concerts, or even using an iPod or
other music player," Dr Le Prell added. "Based on an earlier study
with other antioxidant agents, we think this micronutrient combination
will work even post-noise."

"Similar combinations have been very effective in preventing macular
degeneration, and many of these agents have been used with Alzheimer’s
and Parkinson’s diseases, stroke-like ischemia, and other conditions
that involve neural degeneration," she noted. "You’re always hoping as
a basic scientist to find a commonality like that, across other
disease processes.”

Jay Kadis
March 31st 07, 12:12 AM
In article >,
please@nospam (Willie K. Yee, MD) wrote:

> (in guinea pigs)
>
> Life Extension Update Exclusive
>
> Nutrient combo helps prevent hearing loss
>
> A report published online in the journal Free Radical Biology and
> Medicine described the discovery of researchers at the University of
> Michigan that including a combination of antioxidant vitamins and
> magnesium in one’s nutritional regimen may help prevent noise-induced
> hearing loss.
>
> Josef M. Miller MD, who is a professor in the Department of
> Otolaryngology at the University’s Medical School, along with Colleen
> G. Le Prell, PhD and Larry F. Hughes treated guinea pigs with one of
> the following: vitamins A, C and E; magnesium; A, C and E plus
> magnesium, or a placebo one hour before and five days after a five
> hour exposure to 120 decibel sound pressure level noise (comparable to
> a jet engine at take-off).

Everything seems to work in guinea pigs: they can regenerate cochlear
hair cells, too.

It's very interesting work, but that's just the kind of experiment that
finally made me give up biomedical research. Some pharmacologists were
studying drug effects on the startle reaction in rats and they needed
some insanely loud tone and wanted me to help them with the audio.

-Jay
--
x------- Jay Kadis ------- x---- Jay's Attic Studio ------x
x Lecturer, Audio Engineer x Dexter Records x
x CCRMA, Stanford University x http://www.offbeats.com/ x
x---------- http://ccrma.stanford.edu/~jay/ ------------x

Scott Fraser
March 31st 07, 03:15 AM
I just hope the guinea pigs were rendered comatose before the
application of 5 hours of 120 db spl.

Scott Fraser

Jay Kadis
March 31st 07, 04:09 AM
In article om>,
"Scott Fraser" > wrote:

> I just hope the guinea pigs were rendered comatose before the
> application of 5 hours of 120 db spl.
>
> Scott Fraser

Unfortunately that would compromise the experiment: it might only work
in conjunction with the anesthetic (a not unreasonable possibility.} I
don't know how they could rule that out, even if they anesthetized the
controls as well.

On the other hand, I've seen a packed auditorium endure similar sound
levels for hours voluntarily (a Jeff Beck/SRV concert for one), so who
knows?

-Jay
--
x------- Jay Kadis ------- x---- Jay's Attic Studio ------x
x Lecturer, Audio Engineer x Dexter Records x
x CCRMA, Stanford University x http://www.offbeats.com/ x
x---------- http://ccrma.stanford.edu/~jay/ ------------x

Ty Ford
March 31st 07, 04:34 PM
On Fri, 30 Mar 2007 17:41:34 -0400, Willie K. Yee, MD wrote
(in article >):

> (in guinea pigs)

How does one properly test the hearing of a guinea pig?
Where do you get headphones that small?

Regards,

Ty Ford



--Audio Equipment Reviews Audio Production Services
Acting and Voiceover Demos http://www.tyford.com
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John L Rice
March 31st 07, 09:13 PM
"Ty Ford" > wrote in message
...
> On Fri, 30 Mar 2007 17:41:34 -0400, Willie K. Yee, MD wrote
> (in article >):
>
>> (in guinea pigs)
>
> How does one properly test the hearing of a guinea pig?
> Where do you get headphones that small?
>
> Regards,
>
> Ty Ford

Yeah! And, if most humans don't have the patience to do ABX tests, where
will you find guinea pigs that do?

I wonder if they compared a control set of guinea pigs with foam ear
plugs???

Since guinea pigs can hear in the range of 54-50,000 Hz, did some of them
complain about the quality of the converts used? ;-)

--
John L Rice