Explanipedia

Charting the nanotopography of inner hair cell synapses using MINFLUX nanoscopy Open

Rohan Kapoor, Hyojin Kim, Evelyn Garlick, Maria Augusta do Rego Barros Fernandes Lima, Klara Esch , et al. · 2025

The cochlea encodes sounds into neural signals at the synapses of inner hair cells (IHCs) and spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs) with remarkable fidelity. To achieve high rates of precise synaptic transmission over long periods, IHCs use ribbo…

Author response: Probing the role of synaptic adhesion molecule RTN4RL2 in setting up cochlear connectivity Open

Nare Karagulyan, Maja Überegger, Yumeng Qi, Norbert Babai, Florian Hofer , et al. · 2025

Probing the role of synaptic adhesion molecule RTN4RL2 in setting up cochlear connectivity Open

Nare Karagulyan, Maja Überegger, Yumeng Qi, Norbert Babai, Florian Hofer , et al. · 2025

Sound encoding depends on the precise and reliable neurotransmission at the afferent synapses between the sensory inner hair cells (IHCs) and spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs). The molecular mechanisms contributing to the formation, as well a…

Structure and function of otoferlin, a synaptic protein of sensory hair cells essential for hearing Open

Han Chen, Constantin Cretu, Abigail Trebilcock, Natalia Evdokimova, Norbert Babai , et al. · 2025

Hearing relies upon speedy synaptic transmission of sound information from inner hair cells (IHCs) to spiral ganglion neurons. To accomplish this, IHCs use a sophisticated presynaptic machinery including the multi-C 2 domain protein otofer…

International expert consensus on gene therapy for hereditary hearing loss: Based on clinical trials Open

Xintai Fan, Ziwen Gao, Jiake Zhong, Yuxin Chen, Xiaoyun Chen , et al. · 2025

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the German Research Foundation (DFG) via the Cluster of Excellence, and others.

Is <i>CABP2</i> ‐Associated Hearing Loss (DFNB93) a Gene Therapy Target? Preclinical Progress and Patient Registry Open

Barbara Vona, Bernd Wollnik, Nicola Strenzke, Tina Pangršič, Tobias Moser · 2025

CABP2 modulates presynaptic Ca V 1.3 Ca 2+ channel function in inner hair cells (IHCs) and is required for indefatigable synaptic sound encoding. Biallelic variants in CABP2 are associated with non‐syndromic hearing loss (DFNB93). Otoacous…

SynapseNet: Deep learning for automatic synapse reconstruction Open

Sarah Muth, Frederieke Moschref, Luca Freckmann, Sophia Mutschall, Ines Hojas-Garcia-Plaza , et al. · 2025

Electron microscopy is an important technique for the study of synaptic morphology and its relation to synaptic function. The data analysis for this task requires the segmentation of the relevant synaptic structures, such as synaptic vesic…

Efficient and sustained optogenetic control of sensory and cardiac systems Open

Alexey Alekseev, Victoria Hunniford, Maria Zerche, Marcus Jeschke, Fadhel El May , et al. · 2025

Optogenetic control is used to manipulate the activity of specific cell types in vivo for a variety of biological and clinical applications. Here we report ChReef, an improved variant of the channelrhodopsin ChRmine. ChReef offers minimal …

Hearing restoration by a low-weight power-efficient multichannel optogenetic cochlear implant system Open

Lukasz Jablonski, Tamás Harczos, Bettina Wolf, Gerhard Hoch, Lakshay Khurana , et al. · 2025

Objective. In case of deafness, electrical cochlear implants (eCIs) bypass dysfunctional or lost hair cells by direct stimulation of the auditory nerve. However, spectral selectivity of eCI sound coding is low as the wide current spread fr…

CryoRhodopsins: A comprehensive characterization of a group of microbial rhodopsins from cold environments Open

Gerrit H. U. Lamm, Egor Marin, Alexey Alekseev, A. V. Schellbach, Artem Stetsenko , et al. · 2025

Microbial rhodopsins are omnipresent on Earth; however, the vast majority of them remain uncharacterized. Here, we describe a rhodopsin group found in microorganisms from cold environments, such as glaciers, denoted as CryoRhodopsins (Cryo…

Wirkungskontrolle Biotopschutz Schweiz (WBS): Zustand und Veränderungen in den Biotopen von nationaler Bedeutung nach zwei Erhebungsperioden Open

Ariel Bergamini, Christian Ginzler, Benedikt R. Schmidt, Steffen Boch, Klaus Ecker , et al. · 2025

Establishing synthetic ribbon-type active zones in a heterologous expression system Open

Rohan Kapoor, Thanh Thao, Niko Schwenzer, Arsen Petrović, Thomas Dresbach , et al. · 2025

Encoding of several sensory modalities into neural signals is mediated by ribbon synapses. The synaptic ribbon tethers synaptic vesicles at the presynaptic active zone (AZ) and may act as a super-scaffold organizing AZ topography. Here we …

Author response: Establishing synthetic ribbon-type active zones in a heterologous expression system Open

Rohan Kapoor, Thanh Thao, Niko Schwenzer, Arsen Petrović, Thomas Dresbach , et al. · 2025

Gating of hair cell Ca <sup>2+</sup> channels governs the activity of cochlear neurons Open

Nare Karagulyan, Anupriya Thirumalai, Susann Michanski, Yumeng Qi, Qinghua Fang , et al. · 2025

Our sense of hearing processes sound intensities spanning six orders of magnitude. In the ear, the receptor potential of presynaptic inner hair cells (IHCs) covers the entire intensity range, while postsynaptic spiral ganglion neurons (SGN…

Combinatorial transcriptional regulation establishes subtype-appropriate synaptic properties in auditory neurons Open

Isle Bastille, Lucy Lee, Cynthia Moncada-Reid, Wei-Ming Yu, Austen A. Sitko , et al. · 2025

Neurons develop diverse synapses that vary in content, morphology, and size. Although transcriptional regulators of neurotransmitter identity are known, it remains unclear how synaptic features are patterned among neuronal subtypes. In the…

Structural insights into lipid membrane binding by human ferlins Open

Constantin Cretu, Aleksandar Chernev, Csaba Zoltán Kibédi Szabó, Vladimir Peña, Henning Urlaub , et al. · 2025

Ferlins are ancient membrane proteins with a unique architecture, and play central roles in crucial processes that involve Ca 2+ -dependent vesicle fusion. Despite their links to multiple human diseases and numerous functional studies, a m…

Toward elucidating the mechanism of cochlear stimulation by infrared light Open

Tobias Moser, Lennart Roos · 2025

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft 501100001659

Author response: Probing the role of synaptic adhesion molecule RTN4RL2 in setting up cochlear connectivity Open

Nare Karagulyan, Maja Überegger, Yumeng Qi, Norbert Babai, Florian Hofer , et al. · 2025

Probing the role of synaptic adhesion molecule RTN4RL2 in setting up cochlear connectivity Open

Nare Karagulyan, Maja Überegger, Yumeng Qi, Norbert Babai, Florian Hofer , et al. · 2025

Sound encoding depends on the precise and reliable neurotransmission at the afferent synapses between the sensory inner hair cells (IHCs) and spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs). The molecular mechanisms contributing to the formation, as well a…

3D imaging of the human temporal bone by X-ray phase-contrast tomography Open

Jannis Justus Schaeper, Paul Tafforeau, Christoph A. Kampshoff, Carolina Thomas, Alexander Meyer , et al. · 2025

Structure and function of otoferlin, a synaptic protein of sensory hair cells essential for hearing Open

Han Chen, Constantin Cretu, Abigail Trebilcock, Natalia Evdokimova, Norbert Babai , et al. · 2025

Our sense of hearing relies upon speedy synaptic transmission of sound information from cochlear inner hair cells (IHCs) to spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs). To accomplish this, IHCs employ a sophisticated presynaptic machinery including the…

Investigation of neuromodulation of the endbulb of Held synapse in the cochlear nucleus by serotonin and norepinephrine Open

Maria Boykova Groshkova, Theocharis Alvanos, Yumeng Qi, Fangfang Wang, Carolin Wichmann , et al. · 2025

Introduction Synapses vary greatly in synaptic strength and plasticity, even within the same circuitry or set of pre- and postsynaptic neurons. Neuromodulation is a candidate mechanism to explain some of this variability. Neuromodulators s…

Charting the nanotopography of inner hair cell synapses using MINFLUX nanoscopy Open

Rohan Kapoor, Hyo-Jin Kim, Evelyn Garlick, M. A. C. de Lima, Torben Ruhwedel , et al. · 2025

For us to hear, the cochlea encodes sounds into neural signals at synapses of inner hair cells (IHCs) and the auditory nerve with remarkable fidelity. To achieve the high rates of temporally precise synaptic transmission over long periods …

Integration of Machine Learning Methods to Calculate the Remaining Useful Life of Mandrels Open

Tobias Moser, Johannes Seitz, Bernd Kuhlenkötter · 2025

Predicting the service life of tools offers many advantages in manufacturing, such as reduced maintenance and fewer machine failures. The advances in machine learning methods, representing a sub-area of AI, are constantly creating new pote…

Improved optogenetic modification of the spiral ganglion neurons for future optical cochlear implants Open

Anupriya Thirumalai, Jörg Henseler, Marzieh Enayati, Kathrin Kusch, Roland Hessler , et al. · 2025

Optogenetic stimulation has become a promising approach for restoring lost body function. For example, partial restoration of vision has been achieved in a blind patient and preclinical proof-of-concept has been demonstrated for optogeneti…

3D virtual histology of rodent and primate cochleae with multi-scale phase-contrast X-ray tomography Open

Jannis Justus Schaeper, Christoph A. Kampshoff, Bettina Wolf, Lennart Roos, Susann Michanski , et al. · 2025

Multi-scale X-ray phase contrast tomography (XPCT) enables three-dimensional (3D), non-destructive imaging of intact small animal cochlea and apical cochlear turns. Here we report on post-mortem imaging of excised non-human primate and rod…

Isotropic, aberration-corrected light sheet microscopy for rapid high-resolution imaging of cleared tissue Open

Mostafa Aakhte, Geoffrey A. Mueller, Joe Li, Kurt R. Weiss, Lennart Roos , et al. · 2025

Light sheet microscopy is the ideal technique for multiscale imaging of large and cleared tissues, and it is desirable to achieve the highest possible isotropic resolution across the entire sample. However, isotropic resolution for a centi…

Probing the role of synaptic adhesion molecule RTN4RL2 in setting up cochlear connectivity Open

Nare Karagulyan, Maja Überegger, Yumeng Qi, Norbert Babai, Florian Hofer , et al. · 2025

Sound encoding depends on the precise and reliable neurotransmission at the afferent synapses between the sensory inner hair cells (IHCs) and spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs). The molecular mechanisms contributing to the formation, as well a…

Probing the role of synaptic adhesion molecule RTN4RL2 in setting up cochlear connectivity Open

Nare Karagulyan, Maja Überegger, Yumeng Qi, Norbert Babai, Florian Hofer , et al. · 2025

Sound encoding depends on the precise and reliable neurotransmission at the afferent synapses between the sensory inner hair cells (IHCs) and spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs). The molecular mechanisms contributing to the formation, as well a…

Structural Basis of Lipid Membrane Binding by Human Ferlins Open

Constantin Cretu, Aleksandar Chernev, Csaba Zoltán Kibédi Szabó, Vladimir Peña, Henning Urlaub , et al. · 2025

Ferlins, ancient membrane proteins with a unique architecture, are central to multiple essential, Ca 2+ -dependent vesicle fusion processes. Despite numerous functional studies and their link to burdening human diseases, a mechanistic unde…

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