COVID-19 Resulting in Potential Hearing Damage of Rodents

Objectives To find out the association between the sensorineural hearing loss and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the expression of ACE2 and TMPRSS2 in hamsters and mice was detected. Design Using the public data from the National Center for Biotechnology Information and the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data, the expression of ACE2 and TMPRSS2 at the transcriptomic, DNA, and protein levels of ACE2 in the brain, inner ear, and muscle from the golden Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) and mice (Mus musculus) was assessed. Results We identified ACE2 and TMPRSS2 expressed at different levels in the inner ear and brain at DNA and transcriptomic levels of both mice and hamsters. The protein expression from the brain and inner ear showed a similar pattern, while the expression of ACE2 from the inner ear was relatively higher than that from the muscle. Conclusion Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) shows genetic potential to infect the hearing system of rodents and lead to sudden sensorineural hearing loss that can be used as a characteristic to detect asymptomatic patients of COVID-19.