# Candidate Key Proteins of Tinnitus in the Auditory and Motor Systems of the Thalamus

## TL;DR

This study identifies key proteins in the thalamus that may be involved in tinnitus, focusing on how they interact in the auditory and motor systems under different acoustic conditions.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a novel bioinformatic approach to identify candidate key proteins in tinnitus-related synaptic transmission in the thalamus.

## Key findings

- Under normal hearing, the auditory and motor systems show balanced functional connectivity.
- Tinnitus-related proteins in the auditory system are linked to xenobiotic stimuli and developmental processes.
- In the motor system, tinnitus is associated with dopaminergic activation and tachykinin signaling.

## Abstract

To determine candidate key proteins involved in synaptic transmission in the thalamus in tinnitus, we used bioinformatic methods by analyzing protein–protein interaction networks under different conditions of acoustic activity. The motor system was used to analyze the specificity of the response reaction in the auditory system. The databases GeneCard, STRING-, DAVID-, and Cytoscape version 3.9.1 were applied to identify the top three high-degree proteins, their high-score interaction proteins and the gene ontology—biological processes (GO-BPs) associated in the thalamus with synaptic transmission in tinnitus. Under normal hearing conditions, a balanced state of functional connectivity was observed for both systems, the auditory system and the motor system of the thalamus. Under conditions of acoustic stimulation, the GO-BP-enrichment analyses suggest that in the auditory system, tinnitus-related proteins may be involved in responses typically associated with “xenobiotic stimuli”; in the motor system, the activation of the dopaminergic system was observed. Under conditions of tinnitus in the auditory system, key proteins and the GO-BPs indicate the regulation of different developmental processes and regulation by microRNA transcription; in the motor system, tinnitus is also identified as “xenobiotic” but responded with GO-BPs, corresponding to various signaling systems, e.g., tachykinin. Key proteins and their interactions with neurotransmitter receptors may be useful indicators for tinnitus-associated changes in synaptic transmission in the thalamic auditory system.