Boosting NAD to Spare Hearing

Ex vivo experiments have strangely shown that inhibition or stimulation of NAD metabolism can be neuroprotective. In this issue of Cell Metabolism, Brown et al. (2014) demonstrate that cochlear NAD is diminished by deafening noise but protected by nicotinamide riboside or WldS mutation. Hearing protection by nicotinamide riboside depends on Sirt3.