Zheng, Tihua
Huang, Wenyi
Yu, Heping
Hu, Bo Hua
Song, Peter
McCarty, Christopher M.
Lu, Lu
Jaster, Joseph
Jin, Ge
Zhang, Yan
Zheng, Qing Yin http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5827-4106
Article History
Received: 23 January 2021
Accepted: 18 January 2022
First Online: 3 February 2022
Declarations
:
: The authors declare no competing interests.<b>Contribution to the Field</b>Many children experience OM, a leading cause of hearing loss in the pediatric population. OM is characterized by middle ear effusion. The Jackson Laboratory has established the Neuroscience Mutagenesis Facility to produce novel neurological mouse models for exploring basic neurobiological mechanisms and diseases. At present, a few mouse models have been identified for research of OM. However, the incidence of OM can differ among these mouse strains. Our study reveals that <i>gom1</i> mice are a valuable ENU mouse model for studying OM. In contrast to previously reported ENU models, almost 100 % of <i>gom1</i> mice demonstrate OM. These mice display the phenotypes of OM that mimic the clinically observed signs of OM in humans, such as fluid in the middle ear cavity and hearing loss. This study provides groundwork for future studies aiming at a better understanding of molecular mechanisms underlying the increased susceptibility of mutant mice to middle ear infection, which, in turn, is important for an understanding of individual variation in human vulnerability to OM.