Recent progress in genetics is remarkable and the application of gene therapy to the inner ear disease is expected. Adenovirus has attracted a great attention as a vector for gene therapy but it has not clinically applied in ear diseases because the method of cochlear gene transfer has not established and the safety of the adenovirus in the ear has not been clear at present.
Our study was designed to confirm the feasibility of adenovirus vector into the cochlear of the gerbils and to determine whether adenovirus-mediated overexpression of one of neuronal growth factor: glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) could prevent the profound cochlear damage iduced by transient ischemia in gerbil model. The injection of the adenovirus vector did not cause the increase of compound action potential (CAP) threshold. Furthermore, on the seventh day of ischemia the CAP threshold shift was remarkably suppressed in the GDNF adenovirus treated group comparing with control groups. Our results indicated that adenovirus-mediated GDNF might be useful for the treatment of human auditory degeneration.