Inertial Measurement of Head Tilt in Rodents: Principles and Applications to Vestibular Research.

Inertial sensors are increasingly used in rodent research, in particular for estimating head orientation relative to gravity, or head tilt. Despite this growing interest, the accuracy of tilt estimates computed from rodent head inertial data has never been assessed. Using readily available inertial measurement units mounted onto the head of freely moving rats, we benchmarked a set of tilt estimation methods against concurrent 3D optical motion capture.

Effect of the novel histamine H receptor antagonist SENS-111 on spontaneous nystagmus in a rat model of acute unilateral vestibular loss.

Background And Purpose: Histamine H receptors are expressed in the peripheral vestibular system, and their selective inhibition improves vertigo symptoms in rats with unilateral vestibular lesions. The effects of SENS-111, a selective oral H receptor antagonist with high affinity to both animal and human receptors, on vertigo symptoms was evaluated in a translational in vivo model of unilateral vestibular loss.

Experimental Approach: Pharmacokinetics of SENS-111 in rats was determined to aid dose selection for efficacy testing.

SENS-401 Effectively Reduces Severe Acoustic Trauma-Induced Hearing Loss in Male Rats With Twice Daily Administration Delayed up to 96 hours.

Hypothesis: SENS-401 (R-azasetron besylate) is effective against severe acoustic trauma-induced hearing loss.

Background: SENS-401 has calcineurin inhibiting properties and attenuates cisplatin-induced hearing loss in a rat model. Cisplatin-induced and acoustic trauma-induced hearing loss share common apoptotic pathways.

Noise-induced trauma produces a temporal pattern of change in blood levels of the outer hair cell biomarker prestin.

Biomarkers in easy-to-access body fluid compartments, such as blood, are commonly used to assess health of various organ systems in clinical medicine. At present, no such biomarkers are available to inform on the health of the inner ear. Previously, we proposed the outer-hair-cell-specific protein prestin, as a possible biomarker and provided proof of concept in noise- and cisplatin-induced hearing loss.

Oral Administration of Clinical Stage Drug Candidate SENS-401 Effectively Reduces Cisplatin-induced Hearing Loss in Rats.

Hypothesis: SENS-401, an oral clinical-stage drug, may reduce cisplatin-induced hearing loss and cochlear damage in an in vivo model.

Background: Cisplatin is commonly associated with hearing loss, causing significant learning and behavioral difficulties in the pediatric cancer population, and for which there are currently no clinical solutions. SENS-401 has previously been shown to improve acoustic trauma-induced hearing loss in vivo.