Quinazoline Alleviates Inner Ear Damage By Enhancing The Proliferation And Differentiation Of Neural Stem Cells

BACKGROUND: Neural stem cell (NSC) transplantation exerts therapeutic effects on inner ear damage and pretreatment with quinazoline compounds may further enhance this efficacy. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate whether quinazoline alleviates inner ear damage by enhancing the proliferation and differentiation of NSCs. METHODS: Forty Hartley guinea pigs were randomly assigned to four groups. Hippocampal NSCs isolated from neonatal guinea pigs were pretreated with quinazoline and transplanted into animals with cisplatin-induced hearing loss. Evaluations included NSC proliferation and differentiation, auditory brainstem response (ABR) thresholds and miR-183 expression in cochlear tissues. RESULTS: Quinazoline pretreatment significantly enhanced NSC proliferation and differentiation (P<0.05). After transplantation, the group receiving quinazoline-pretreated NSCs showed a significantly lower ABR threshold (reflecting an approximately 10 dB improvement in hearing recovery) than the group receiving untreated NSCs (P<0.05). This was accompanied by more pronounced structural repair of the cochlea and a significant upregulation of miR-183 expression (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Quinazoline promotes the repair of inner ear injury by enhancing the proliferation and differentiation of NSCs, a mechanism that appears to be associated with the upregulation of miR-183 expression.