Lenitive Effects of Antioxidants in Noise Stress

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Lenitive Effects of Antioxidants in Noise Stress

Stress refers to a non-specific response of the body to unpleasant stimuli, threatening homeostasis and the integrity of the organism. It is a state of threatened homeostasis provoked by psychological, physiological and environmental stressors. Noise is measured in decibel (dB) units reported that noise exposure is a potent stressor as it increases the levels of the stress hormone, corticosterone. Noise pollution, especially in the urban environment, is on the increase and ranks among the environmental stressors with the highest public health impact. The auditory effects include hearing impairment and permanent hearing loss due to excessive noise exposure.

In the central nervous system, sound proceeds in two directions; one to the auditory centre, where it is perceived and interpreted; and the other to the deep parts of brain, where it activates the autonomic nervous system and is liable for a wide range of monaural effects. Noise is stressful and activates the HPA axis, resulting in the release of corticosteroid hormones from the adrenal gland into circulation, together with hearing loss and other health impairments such as headache, hypertension and coronary heart disease

Antioxidants in ameliorating noise stress
Increasing distance from noise source and decreasing noise exposure time is essential for preventing noise induced abnormalities. However, the ameliorative effects of antioxidants for the treatment of structural and functional noise stress-induced pathologies in the auditory pathway is imperative and have been reported: compounds such as mannitol, salicylates or vitamins A, C and E, N-acetylcysteine, trolox, acetyl-l-carnitine combined with N-acetylcysteine and Ocimum sanctum–a medicinal herb popularly known as basil, attenuates cochlear oxidative damage following hearing loss reported that NIHL can be reversed by treatment with a natural antioxidant, CoQ10, which prevents cochlear oxidative stress through the decrease in O2 production and lipid peroxidation.

Conclusion: Noise stress exerts negative effects on the body, which are mediated by stress-induced neurochemical and hormonal anomalies. These reactions may be behavioural, autonomic, neuroendocrine and immunological; often linked with increased generation of free radicals and subsequently, oxidative stress. Increasing distance from noise source and decreasing noise exposure time is essential for preventing noise induced abnormalities. The advocacy for the administration of exogenous antioxidants to mitigate noise-induced stress is attributed to their ability to enhance the expression of endogenous antioxidant enzymes alongside their free radical scavenging capacity which is imperative for the improvement of current prophylactic and therapeutic interventions against noise-induced stress.

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Aaron Province
Managing Editor  | Journal of Food and Clinical Nutrition