Fig. 5. Sustained depletion of macrophages via PLX3397 provided complete protection against cisplatin-induced hearing loss and OHC dysfunction (experiment 2).

(A to C) Hearing loss was assessed by ABRs before (baseline) PLX3397 treatment and after (end point) completion of the cisplatin administration protocol. Hearing loss is reported as threshold shifts (the difference between baseline and end point ABR thresholds). ABR threshold shifts were assessed in both (B) female and (C) male mice. (D to I) OHC function was evaluated using DPOAEs. An emission at 2f₁ − f₂ was considered present when its amplitude exceeded the threshold of −5 dB (dotted lines). The gray line represents the biological noise floor. For both ABRs and DPOAEs, groups include saline/vehicle-treated mice (blue line), saline/PLX3397-treated mice (purple line), cisplatin/vehicle-treated mice (red line), and cisplatin/PLX3397-treated mice (green line). Data are shown as means ± SEM, n = 8 to 9 mice (4 to 5 females and 4 to 5 males) per experimental group (total 34 mice; 16 females and 16 males). Statistical analysis was performed using two-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test (main column effect).