Gene expression profiles in the inner ears of Fscn2 knockout mice compared with the control mice. Gene expression profiles in the inner ears of Fscn2 knockout mice compared with the control mice

Fscn2-/- mouse is a typical model of age-related hearing loss which exhibits progressive hearing impairment and outer hair cell loss from 3 weeks of age. To investigate the molecular mechanism of hearing loss in Fscn2 knockout mice, gene expression profiling was performed on the inner ears for Fscn2+/+ and Fscn2-/- mice at 8 weeks of age using microarray analysis. Hearing screening tests at 8 weeks of age showed that the auditory brainstem response thresholds of Fscn2-/- mice were increased to 70-75 dB SPL at stimuli of click, while those of Fscn2+/+ mice were within the normal range(< 55 dB SPL). Microarray analysis identified a total of 244 differentially expressed mRNAs, including 72 upregulated and 172 downregulated genes, and a total of 688 differentially expressed lncRNAs, including 300 upregulated and 388 downregulated genes in Fscn2-/- mice, compared to Fscn2+/+ mice. Overall design: Gene expression profiling was performed on the inner ears for 3 Fscn2+/+ mice and 3 Fscn2-/- mice at 8 weeks of age using Agilent Mouse lncRNA Microrray V3. Hearing screening tests at 8 weeks of age showed that the auditory brainstem response thresholds of Fscn2-/- mice were increased to 70-75 dB SPL at stimuli of click, while those of Fscn2+/+ mice were within the normal range(< 55 dB SPL).