[Cisplatin-induced apoptotic cell death in spiral ganglion and organ of Corti of mongolian gerbil cochlear].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether apoptosis is one of the mechanism for cell death in spiral ganglion(SG) and organ of Corti of Mongolian gerbils cochlea induced by cisplatin. METHODS: Mongolian gerbils were administered 4 mg.kg-1.d-1 cisplatin consecutively for 4 to 7 days. The apoptotic cell death in spiral ganglion and organ of Corti of cochlea basal turn was detected via transmission electron microscopy and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) method. RESULTS: The observation of electron microscopy shown special morphological change consistent with the feature of cell apoptosis in some spiral ganglion cells and outer hair cells after 5-7 days' cisplatin treatment. The apoptotic labeling by TUNEL in spiral ganglion and organ of Corti was detected after 5 days' treatment and increased after 6 and 7 days' treatment whereas almost negative result were obtained in the normal control animals. CONCLUSION: Apoptosis is one of the important mechanisms for cell injury of spiral ganglion and organ of Corti induced by cisplatin.