Abstract
There is no information on the association between oral exposure to arsenic (As) and hearing loss in humans or mice. In this combined epidemiological study and experimental study, the association of oral exposure to As with hearing loss in people aged 12–29 years and young mice was examined. Subjects in the exposure group (n = 48), who were drinking tube well water contaminated with As, showed significantly higher risks of hearing loss at 4 kHz [odds ratio (OR) = 7.60; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.56, 57.88], 8 kHz (OR = 5.00; 95% CI: 1.48, 18.90) and 12 kHz (OR = 8.72; 95% CI: 2.09, 47.77) than did subjects in the control group (n = 29). We next performed an experiment in which young mice were exposed to As via drinking water at 22.5 mg/L, which is a much greater concentration than that in human studies. The exposure group showed hearing loss and accumulation of As in inner ears. Ex vivo exposure of the organ of Corti from mice exposed to As significantly decreased the number of auditory neurons and fibers. Thus, our combined study showed that oral exposure to As caused hearing loss in young people and young mice.
Highlights
Contamination of arsenic (As) in drinking well water has been reported worldwide[1,2,3]
We compared hearing levels of young people aged 12–29 years in a control group drinking tap water and an exposure group drinking tube well water contaminated with As in Bangladesh using a multivariate analysis adjusted for age, sex, body mass index (BMI) and smoking
Since a huge number of people worldwide are exposed to As via drinking water, it is important to evaluate the health risk of oral exposure to As. It was shown by multivariate analysis with adjustments for age, sex, BMI and smoking that consumption of tube well water contaminated with As was significantly associated with hearing loss
Summary
Contamination of arsenic (As) in drinking well water has been reported worldwide[1,2,3]. There is no direct evidence about whether oral exposure to As via drinking water causes hearing loss in mice determined by auditory brainstem response (ABR).
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