SUPPRESSION OF OTOTOXICITY BY BAMBOO SALT-PHARMACEUTICAL ACUPUNCTURE

摘要

Bamboo salt is a specially processed salt according to the traditional recipe using solar salt and bamboo etc. It has been commonly used for medicinal, skin-care and general health purposes in Korea for more than 1,000 years. Purple bamboo salt (PBS) is the best bamboo salt manufactured through a unique method. We report PBS-pharmaceutical acupuncture prevents the cisplatin-induced ototoxicity. Recent studies have showed that IL-6 expression was distinctively induced in inner ear under various damaging conditions. When PBS was acupunctured at acupoint of triple energiger meridian 21 (TE21) after administration of cisplatin, PBS suppressed the IL-6 production and caspase-3 activation induced by cisplatin in mice cochlear. In addition, PBS inhibits IL-6 production, bcl-2 expression, and extracellular signal-related kinase activation in an auditory cell line, HEI-OCl. Our findings indicate that PBS-pharmaceutical acupuncture may contribute to hearing loss correction.