Apigenin alleviates neomycin-induced oxidative damage via the Nrf2 signaling pathway in cochlear hair cells

Abstract

Oxidative stress plays an important role in the pathogenesis of aminoglycoside-induced hearing loss and represents a promising target for treatment. We tested the potential effect of apigenin, a natural flavonoid with anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant activities, on neomycin-induced ototoxicity in cochlear hair cells in vitro. Results showed that apigenin significantly ameliorated the loss of hair cells and the accumulation of reactive oxygen species upon neomycin injury. Further evidence suggested that the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) signaling pathway was activated by apigenin treatment. Disruption of the Nrf2 axis abolished the effects of apigenin on the alleviation of oxidative stress and subsequent apoptosis of hair cells. This study provided evidence of the protective effect of apigenin on cochlear hair cells and its underlying mechanism.

Keywords

apigenin / aminoglycosides / ototoxicity / oxidative stress / Nrf2 signaling pathway

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2017YFA0103900), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 81771010 and 81570911), and the Nature Science Foundation (No. 17ZR1404600) from Shanghai Science and Technology Committee.

Compliance with ethics guidelines

Gaogan Jia, Huanyu Mao, Yanping Zhang, Yusu Ni, and Yan Chen declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this article. This study was approved by the Institutional Research Ethics Committee of the Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University.

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