Subjects

A total of 30 male/female CBA/Ca mice 3 months of age (at the start of experiments) were used in this study. Seventeen mice were included in all behavioral and electrophysiological studies (and some in histological studies), while a subset of mice was used for only ABR and histological studies. Mice were born in house from parents obtained from Jackson Laboratories. Mice were housed 3–4 to a cage within a colony room with a 12-h light–dark cycle at 23°C. Hearing and behavior was tracked longitudinally for each animal in a repeated measures design and animals were sacrificed for cochlear histology 14 weeks after the start of experimentation (Figure 1).

Experimental timeline. ASR and ABR tests (^∗ symbol) are color coded to specific weeks the tests occurred after the start of treatment. This color code is maintained throughout the manuscript. Treatment regimens were carried out from week 0 to 2 for groups (G) 2 and 3, while group 1 did not receive any treatment. Animals were sacrificed after week 14 tests for cochlear histology.