Verification of Outer Hair Cell Motor Protein, Prestin, as a Serological Biomarker for Mouse Cochlear Damage

The motor protein prestin, found in the inner ear’s outer hair cells (OHCs), is responsible for high sensitivity and sharp frequency selectivity in mammalian hearing. Some studies have suggested that prestin could be a serological biomarker for cochlear damage, as OHCs are highly vulnerable to damage from various sources. However, the reported data are inconsistent and lack appropriate negative controls. To investigate whether prestin can be used as a serological biomarker for cochlear damage or stress, we measured prestin quantities in the bloodstreams of mice using ELISA kits from different companies. Wildtype (WT) mice were exposed to different ototoxic treatments, including noise exposure and ototoxic reagents that rapidly kill OHCs. Prestin-knockout (KO) mice were used as a negative control. Our data show that some ELISA kits were not able to detect prestin specifically. The ELISA kit that could detect the prestin protein from cochlear homogenates failed to detect prestin in the bloodstream, despite there being significant damage to OHCs in the cochleae. Furthermore, the optical densities of the serum samples, which correlate to prestin quantities, were significantly influenced by hemolysis in the samples. In conclusion, Prestin from OHCs is not a sensitive and reliable serological biomarker for detecting cochlear damage in mice using ELISA.