# Pathobiology and biomechanics of vocal fold dehydration

> **NIH NIH R01** · PURDUE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $314,985

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Optimal body hydration is considered imperative to preserving vocal health by many experts in the field. To this
end, minimizing dehydration and increasing hydration is often recommended to prevent voice problems and as
treatment for ongoing problems. The presumption underlying this recommendation is that dehydration induces
adverse pathological and biomechanical changes to the vocal folds, and that speakers will develop
maladaptive, phonotraumatic behaviors to compensate. Due to the prevalence of phonotraumatic voice
problems, initiating hydration treatments has become a common, unfounded clinical recommendation. The
critical, missing links in this argument are the absence of data demonstrating adverse pathobiological and
biomechanical effects of dehydration, and a realistic model to test these data endpoints. A realistic model
should have intact homeostatic mechanisms that regulate hydration in vivo and be amenable to rigorous
control of hydration state. A rabbit animal model that is dehydrated systematically meets these requirements.
The first goal of this proposal is to quantify the adverse pathobiological and biomechanical sequelae of acute
dehydration. Systemic and surface dehydration will be induced to physiologically-relevant levels that have
been shown to induce voice changes in human speakers. The distinct effects of systemic and surface
dehydration will be quantified in young and old rabbits in order to delineate the influence of route of
dehydration, as well as age, on fluid homeostasis. The second goal of this proposal is to establish whether
systemic and surface rehydration can reverse adverse vocal fold changes induced by dehydration in young
and old rabbits. The third goal of this proposal is to establish differential effects of chronic systemic and chronic
surface dehydration in young and old rabbits. Chronic dehydration might not only increase impairments that
are observed in acute dehydration, but may also reveal mechanisms of degeneration not identified in the first
two goals. Pathobiological and biomechanical endpoints will include proton density MRI as a non-invasive
measure of vocal fold hydration state, and histological, cellular, molecular, and biomechanical assessment of
the vocal folds following dehydration and rehydration. By combining cellular, molecular, structural, and
functional techniques, this comprehensive proposal seeks to shed fundamental insight into the effects of
altered hydration state on vocal fold fluid, epithelium, lamina propria and muscle tissue so that validated
scientific recommendations can be made on the adverse effects of dehydration and the therapeutic benefits of
hydration.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9998930
- **Project number:** 5R01DC015545-05
- **Recipient organization:** PURDUE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Abigail Cox
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $314,985
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-09-01 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9998930

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9998930, Pathobiology and biomechanics of vocal fold dehydration (5R01DC015545-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9998930. Licensed CC0.

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