Potentiation of noise-induced audiogenic seizure risk by salicylate in mice as a function of salicylate-noise exposure interval.

Audiogenic seizure risk can be induced in genetically seizure-resistant BALB/c mice by exposure to an intense noise. Results of this experiment showed that combined exposure to noise and sodium salicylate could produce a greater priming effect than exposure to the noise alone, and the greatest potentiation effect was obtained when animals were exposed to the noise 6 hr after the intake of salicylate. The findings were taken as indirect evidence suggesting that the ototoxic action of sodium salicylate could potentiate vulnerability of the mouse cochlea to noise damage.