목적: This study was designed to investigate whether Low level laser therapy (LLLT) can rescue spiral ganglion cell damage in ouabain induced auditory neuropathy (AN) model of Mongolian gerbils. 방법:AN model was made by local application of ouabain (1 mmol/L, 3uL) to the round window niche in female gerbils. Low level laser (LLL) was given once a day for 1h (200mW) during 7d in LLLT group. Before and 7 days after ouabain application, the hearing of the animals was evaluated using both ABR and distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE). Seven days after ouabain application, animals were sacrificed to evaluate the morphological changes of cochlea using cochlear section image and whole mount Immunofluorescent staining. 결과:DPOAE change was not observed in all of groups after ouabain local treatment indicating intact outer hair cell function. Ouabain application group showed ABR threshold increase when compared with control group at 4,8,12,16 KHz. LLLT group showed less threshold shift than ouabain only with statistical significance. H&E stains of Mid-modiolar section in cochlear showed spiral ganglion cell in terms of cell population, neurofilaments and post synaptic receptor counts damage while preserving inner and outer hair cells. LLLT group showed more spiral ganglion cells, density of neurofilaments and post synaptic receptor counts as compared with ouabain application group. 결론:The results demonstrate that LLLT is beneficial to ouabain-induced AN. LLLT might be a potential agent for treating hearing impairment in AN status.