Tinnitus Correlates with Downregulation of Cortical Glutamate Decarboxylase 65 Expression but not Auditory Cortical Map Reorganization

Hearing loss is the biggest risk factor for tinnitus and hearing loss-related pathological changes in the auditory pathway have been hypothesized as the mechanism underlying tinnitus. However, due to the comorbidity of tinnitus and hearing loss, it has been difficult to differentiate between neural correlates of tinnitus and consequences of hearing loss. In this study, we dissociated tinnitus and hearing loss in FVB mice, which exhibit robust resistance to tinnitus following monaural noise-induced hearing loss. Furthermore, knockdown of glutamate decarboxylase 65 (GAD65) expression in auditory cortex by RNA interference gave rise to tinnitus in normal-hearing FVB mice. We found that tinnitus was significantly correlated with down-regulation of GAD65 in the auditory cortex. By contrast, cortical map distortions, which have been hypothesized as a mechanism underlying tinnitus, were correlated with hearing loss but not tinnitus. Our findings suggest new strategies for the rehabilitation of tinnitus and other phantom sensation, such as phantom pain. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Hearing loss is the biggest risk factor for tinnitus in humans. Most animal models of tinnitus also exhibit comorbid hearing loss, making it difficult to dissociate the mechanisms underlying tinnitus from mere consequences of hearing loss. Here we show that, although both C57BL/6 and FVB mice exhibited similar noise-induced hearing threshold increase, only C57BL/6, but not FVB, mice developed tinnitus following noise exposure. Although both strains showed frequency map reorganization following noise-induced hearing loss, only C57BL/6 mice had reduced GAD65 expression in the auditory cortex. Knocking down GAD65 expression in the auditory cortex resulted in tinnitus in normal hearing FVB mice. Our results suggest that reduced inhibitory neuronal function, but not sensory map reorganization, underlies noise-induced tinnitus.