Diet-induced hyperlipidemia and auditory dysfunction.

Chinchillas rendered hyperlipidemic by a 1% cholesterol diet or maintained on a normal diet were either exposed to a 2-octave bandpass noise (700-2,800 Hz for 220 min at 105 or 114 dB) or else not exposed to noise. The animals were assessed with tone-burst (2-16 kHz) elicited compound action potentials (CAP). Compared with normal diet animals, the hyperlipidemic animals: not exposed to noise exhibited elevated thresholds at 8 kHz and higher frequencies; exposed to 105-dB noise exhibited elevated thresholds at 16 kHz; and exposed to 114-dB noise exhibited elevated thresholds at 2-16 kH. Surface preparations were made of the left cochleae of all noise-exposed animals. There was essentially no difference in hair cell counts between hyperlipidemic animals exposed to the 105-dB noise and normal animals similarly exposed. The hyperlipidemic animals exposed to the 114-dB noise exhibited a greater hair cell loss in the first turn of the cochlea than did similarly exposed normal animals. We conclude that maintenance on a high-cholesterol diet can cause a high-frequency hearing loss, probably due to vascular pathology resulting from a hyperlipidemic state. Furthermore, maintenance on a high-cholesterol diet can increase susceptibility to noise-induced hearing losses.