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.