P.J.
0
Cure for deafness comes closer to reality
Washington: A new research can bring out the cure for deafness! Earlier it was believed by scientists and doctors that the sound-sensing hair cells in the inner ear cannot be replaced once they're lost. But according to this research conducted on newborn mice ,the supporting cells in the ear can turn into hair cells.
Keeping the results of this study in mind,if the same findings can be applied to older animals, they may lead to ways to help stimulate cell replacement in adults and to the design of new treatment strategies for people suffering from deafness due to hair cell loss.
"The finding that newborn hair cells regenerate spontaneously is novel," senior author Dr. Albert Edge of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, said.
In their previous research the team had revealed that inhibition of the Notch signaling pathway increases hair cell differentiation and can help restore hearing to mice with noise-induced deafness.
[TABLE="align: right"]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
In their latest work, the investigators found that blocking the Notch pathway increases the formation of new hair cells not from remaining hair cells but from certain nearby supporting cells that express a protein called Lgr5.
Combining this new knowledge about Lgr5-expressing cells with the previous finding that Notch inhibition can regenerate hair cells will allow the scientists to design new hair cell regeneration strategies to treat hearing loss and deafness.
Cure for deafness comes closer to reality
