Auditory function analysis in immunodeficient STAT1 knock-out mice: Considerations for viral infection models.

摘要: The STAT1 knock-out (KO) mouse is a frequently used transgenic immunodeficient strain to model human viral and bacterial diseases. Lassa fever was established in the KO mice mimicking phenotypes seen patients including deafness survivors. This develops hearing loss at high prevalence valuable tool investigate infection-induced loss. However, virus highly contagious regulated agent requiring unique logistics of biosafety level 4 posing limitations for experimental work. Therefore, we did detailed auditory analysis assess baseline function preparation further behavioral studies. Auditory brainstem response distortion product otoacoustic emission tests were performed on males females compared 129S6/SvEv wild type (WT) mice. male WT had best performance female worst performance. similar each other, which intermediate between females. We conclude that both are suitable studying