Jo ER, et al. - In view of the observation that ototoxicity leads to dose reduction during the cisplatin chemotherapy and results in inadequate treatment of malignant tumors, researchers sought to assess the protective effects of ferulic acid on cisplatin-induced ototoxicity. They exposed House Ear Institute-Organ of Corti 1 (HEI-OC1) cells to 30 μM of cisplatin for 24 h with or without pretreatment with ferulic acid. They noted significantly increased cell viability, levels of antioxidant enzymes, and hair cell survival in correlation to pretreatment with ferulic acid before cisplatin exposure. Furthermore, pretreatment with ferulic acid was observed significantly decreasing apoptotic cells, levels of cleaved caspase, levels of cleaved PARP, and intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. These findings suggest that ferulic acid could inhibit cisplatin-induced cytotoxicity as it prevented ROS formation and induced the production of endogenous antioxidants, indicating its utility as a protective agent against cisplatin-induced ototoxicity.