목적: Autophagy is a major intracellular degradation process, by which cytoplasmic material is degraded via fusion of the double- membrane compartment, autophagosome with lysosomes. This process is important for the maintenance of cell homeostasis. Previous our data showed that enhanced autophagic flux can delay the aminoglycoside-induced ototoxicity, but the specific genes that are related with autophagy- dependent protective properties in hair cells have not been identified. To investigate the possible link between the autophagy process and hair cell protection against aminoglycoside-induced ototoxicity, we performed next generation sequencing (NGS) using ex vivo system. 방법:Organ of Corti explants of Sprague-Dawley rats were cultured on tissue culture plates. The explants were exposed to (a) Distilled water, (b) 50 μM gentamicin and (c) 50 μM gentamicin + 50 pM rapamycin (as autophagy inducer) for 2 days. Transcriptome of organ of Corti cells were examined using RNA-sequencing. Differentially expressed genes were further verified for with quantitative RT-PCR. 결과:First, we evaluated hair cell loss in the apex, mid and base turns of the organ of Corti in each group. Immunohistochemical findings of organ of Cortis showed that the loss of stereocilia was much more in the gentamicin-treated explants than in the gentamicin + rapamycin-treated explants. Then the RNA samples were extracted from each group and RNA-seq was performed. We have shown the lists of differently expressed genes between samples. RNA-seq results showed that 672 genes were up-regulated and 255 genes were down-regulated under the gentamicin-treated condition compared to the control group, and gentamicin + rapamycin-treated group reversed some of these gene expression levels (344 genes were up- regulated and 163 genes were down-regulated). 결론:Autophagy may be closely connected with the aminoglycoside-mediated hair cell death and survival through the expression of specific genes.