Effects of Cadmium on the Hearing System

Abstract

The functional resemblance between kidney proximal tubular and inner ear epithelial cells which has often been pointed out in the literature led us to hypothesize that nephrotoxic agents that cause renal tubular injury might also impair the function of inner ear cells. As one of the most toxic environmental nephrotoxic agents is cadmium, we aimed to study its effects on hearing experimentally in rats. In this study, increased blood and renal cortical cadmium levels were associated with high cadmium accumulation in ear ossicles and labyrinth in rats exposed to cadmium. The changes in auditory brainstem response (ABR) and otoacoustic emission in 2-month-old male rats exposed to drinking water containing 5 and 15 ppm CdCl₂ for 30 days showed that cadmium-induced nephrotoxicity was associated with signs of defective hearing at a concentration of 15 ppm CdCl₂ but that 5 ppm CdCl₂

• Auditory Changes Cadmium Toxicity Hearing Loss