Home › Neuroscience › Cochlear Implant Surgery and Electrically-evoked Auditory Brainstem Response Recordings in C57BL/6 Mice
Neuroscience JoVE (Open Access) Citable · DOI

Cochlear Implant Surgery and Electrically-evoked Auditory Brainstem Response Recordings in C57BL/6 Mice

DOI: 10.3791/58073-v
What you'll learn
  • ✓ Perform acute acoustic deafening and cochlear implantation in C57BL/6 mice
  • ✓ Measure auditory brainstem responses before and after implantation
  • ✓ Analyze electrically-evoked ABR recordings for cochlear implant function assessment
Protocol

Animal models of cochlear implants can advance knowledge of the technological bases of treating permanent sensorineural hearing loss with electrical stimulation. This study presents a surgical protocol for acute deafening and cochlear implantation of an electrode array in mice as well as the functional assessment with auditory brainstem response.

Difficulty
advanced
Total time
~4–6 hours per mouse (including surgery, implantation, and functional assessment)
Model organism
Mouse C57BL/6
Biosafety
BSL-1

Steps

1
Establish baseline acoustic auditory brainstem response

Record pre-deafening aABR to establish normal hearing baseline before surgical intervention. This confirms initial auditory function in the mouse.

▶ 00:41
2
Perform acute cochlear deafening surgery

Execute surgical protocol to induce permanent sensorineural hearing loss via cochlear damage. This creates the condition requiring cochlear implant intervention.

▶ 02:37
3
Insert cochlear implant electrode array and record eABR

Implant the electrode array into the cochlea and record electrically-evoked auditory brainstem responses to assess implant functionality and neural response to electrical stimulation.

▶ 05:50
4
Analyze and interpret representative eABR data

Examine electrophysiological recordings to determine successful cochlear implant integration and validate functional auditory neural pathway activation.

▶ 07:22
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