•  
  •  
 

Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences

Abstract

Background/aim: Cerumenolytic agents containing glycerin and hydrogen peroxide are widely used in clinical practice and are generally considered safe; however, their potential effects on hearing function in cases of tympanic membrane (TM) perforation have not been adequately investigated. This experimental study evaluated the potential ototoxic effects of glycerin and hydrogen peroxide in rats with TM perforations using auditory brainstem response (ABR) testing.

Materials and methods: Twenty healthy male Wistar albino rats with bilaterally induced near-total TM perforations were divided into four groups (n = 4–6 animals/group) and received topical saline, amikacin, glycerin, or hydrogen peroxide applications twice daily for 10 days. ABR thresholds were measured immediately after perforation and 3 weeks after exposure at 1000, 4000, 8000, and 16,000 Hz and the mean ABR thresholds of the right and left ears were analyzed statistically.

Results: No significant within-group threshold change was observed in the saline or amikacin groups at any frequency. The hydrogen peroxide group showed significant increases in ABR thresholds after exposure at all four tested frequencies, while the glycerin group showed significant increases at 1000 and 8000 Hz only. Postexposure ABR thresholds differed significantly among the groups at every frequency; however, significant pairwise differences were limited to comparisons with the saline group, and no statistically significant difference was detected between the glycerin, hydrogen peroxide, and amikacin groups.

Conclusion: A significant increase in ABR thresholds was observed in the hydrogen peroxide group at all tested frequencies, whereas glycerin caused significant increases at two of the four frequencies. No statistically significant difference was detected in the amikacin group. These findings suggest that glycerin and hydrogen peroxide may have adverse effects on auditory function when used in ears with TM perforation, although histopathological confirmation was not performed and pure glycerin rather than a commercial cerumenolytic formulation was used. Further experimental and histopathological studies evaluating specific commercial formulations are needed to confirm these findings and clarify their clinical relevance.

Author ORCID Identifier

ÖZLEM AKKOCA: 0000-0002-1030-3692

EMİNE AYDIN: 0000-0003-0802-6822

ŞULE DEMİRCİ: 0000-0002-6682-8500

RIDVAN HALİT PAMUK: 0009-0005-3029-3646

EMİNE CEREN ERSÖZ ÜNLÜ: 0000-0003-3739-2098

HARUN ÇOBAN: 0000-0002-3195-913X

YÜCE İSLAMOĞLU: 0000-0002-1294-7088

DOI

10.55730/1300-0144.6406

Keywords

auditory brainstem response, glycerin, hydrogen peroxide, ototoxicity, rats, Tympanic membrane perforation

First Page

1612

Last Page

1620

Publisher

The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK)

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Download

Share

COinS