Oto-Protection of Honokiol Against Cisplatin-Induced Ototoxicity

The antiototoxic effect of honokiol against cisplatin treatment will be tested both in cultured cochlear primary cells and cochlear explants, and in vivo on cisplatin treated mice. The hearing protection effect will be determined by auditory brainstem response and distortion product otoacoustic emission, and the protection of hair cells will be determined by immunolabelling, cell counting and wholecell patch clamp. The involvement of SIR T3 pathway will also be investigated by immunostaining and western blot. The results will not only lay the ground work for the hearing protection in chemotherapy using honokiol, but also give insight into its more general application in hearing protection. An interdisciplinary cooperation between researches in hearing and cancer biology will be established.