Mitochondrial dysfunction in hearing loss: Oxidative stress, autophagy and NLRP3 inflammasome

Peipei Li; Shen Li; Le Wang; Hongmin Li; Yang Wang; Hongbing Liu; Xin Wang; Xiaodan Zhu; Zhangsuo Liu; Fanglei Ye; Yuan Zhang

doi:10.3389/fcell.2023.1119773

Mitochondrial dysfunction in hearing loss: Oxidative stress, autophagy and NLRP3 inflammasome

Front Cell Dev Biol. 2023 Feb 20:11:1119773. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2023.1119773. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Peipei Li^{1

2}, Shen Li³, Le Wang⁴, Hongmin Li⁴, Yang Wang⁴, Hongbing Liu³, Xin Wang³, Xiaodan Zhu⁴, Zhangsuo Liu^{1

2}, Fanglei Ye⁴, Yuan Zhang⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Integrated Traditional and Western Nephrology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
² Henan Province Research Center for Kidney Disease, Zhengzhou, China.
³ Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
⁴ Department of Otology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.

Abstract

Sensorineural deafness becomes an inevitable worldwide healthy problem, yet the current curative therapy is limited. Emerging evidences demonstrate mitochondrial dysfunction plays a vital role of in the pathogenesis of deafness. Reactive oxygen species (ROS)-induced mitochondrial dysfunction combined with NLRP3 inflammasome activation is involved in cochlear damage. Autophagy not only clears up undesired proteins and damaged mitochondria (mitophagy), but also eliminate excessive ROS. Appropriate enhancement of autophagy can reduce oxidative stress, inhibit cell apoptosis, and protect auditory cells. In addition, we further discuss the interplays linking ROS generation, NLRP3 inflammasome activation, and autophagy underlying the pathogenesis of deafness, including ototoxic drugs-, noise- and aging-related hearing loss.

Keywords: NLRP3 inflammasome; autophagy; hearing loss; mitochondrial dysfunction; oxidative stress.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (NO.2022M712892) and the Joint project of Henan Province Medical Science and Technology Project (LHGJ20220358).