International Session 9　　Otology-Basic Research 1

Background: Age-related hearing loss(ARHL)is an age-related and progressive hearing loss.Prenatal stress(PS) , such as psychiatric stresses and a poor nutrition of pregnant female, is related to age-related diseases in adult offspring.Recently, there are many studies about the association between the COVID-19 pandemic and PS.An association between PS and hearing loss has been reported, however, it is not known whether PS impacts susceptibility to ARHL.Methods: Pregnant female C57BL/6 mice were assigned to the PS and control group.The PS group were given restraint stress during their pregnancy.One male and one female offspring were assigned from each litter.ABRs were recorded from 1 to 6 months old.Phalloidin labeled hair cells were manually counted in cochlear whole mounts at 1 and 6 months old.Results:The ABR thresholds and the incidence of hair cell loss were not significantly different in young mice.However, in middleaged mice, the ABR thresholds and the incidence of outer hair cell loss were significantly higher in the PS group.Conclusions: This study provides evidence that ARHL is accelerated by PS in a mouse model.