Effect of hyperbilirubinemia on the inner ear in Gunn rats.

The effect of hyperbilirubinemia on the inner ear was studied in fifteen jaundiced homozygous Gunn rats. Seven non-jaundiced heterozygous littermates served as controls. Histopathological examination of the temporal bone in these animals showed normal sensory and neuronal structures of the inner ear. This cannot be taken as conclusive evidence that a central, rather than a peripheral, lesion is the cause of hearing loss in hyperbilirubinemia.