Single cell gene expression profile of adult cochlear in NIHL vs. ISL1-NIHL

Exposure to excessive noise levels is considered one of the main etiologies of acquired hearing loss. Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) affects a large number of people during the productive years of life, and imposes a large impact on quality of life and a high socioeconomic burden. Here, we tested the effect of the ISL1 in NIHL. We used an inbred mouse strain (CBA/CaJ) and carried out single-cell RNA sequencing to examine the gene expression profiles comparing (AAV-ISL1) with (NIHL-only). Overall design: In experimental group, we treated WT CBA/CaJ adult cochlear with the ISL1 (AAV titration: 10e12 GC/ml) followed by noise exposure, before dissecting sensory epithelium to create cDNA libraries subjected to 10X Genomics pipeline barcoding, library preparation, and sequencing. The untreated contralateral ears from the same mice were treated as control group. Gene expression profiles of cochlea AAV-treated v.s. untreated were compared (NIHL-only, n=5; AAV-ISL1 n=5).