Organ of Corti ≈ Organ of Corti
View article
Mechanisms of Cisplatin-Induced Ototoxicity and Otoprotection Open
Evidence of significant hearing loss during the early days of use of cisplatin as a chemotherapeutic agent in cancer patients has stimulated research into the causes and treatment of this side effect. It has generally been accepted that he…
View article
Age-Related Hearing Loss Is Dominated by Damage to Inner Ear Sensory Cells, Not the Cellular Battery That Powers Them Open
Age-related hearing loss arises from irreversible damage in the inner ear, where sound is transduced into electrical signals. Prior human studies suggested that sensory-cell loss is rarely the cause; correspondingly, animal work has implic…
View article
Two-Dimensional Cochlear Micromechanics Measured In Vivo Demonstrate Radial Tuning within the Mouse Organ of Corti Open
Outer hair cells amplify the traveling wave within the mammalian cochlea. The resultant gain and frequency sharpening are necessary for speech discrimination, particularly in the presence of background noise. Here we measured the 2-D motio…
View article
Fractalkine Signaling Regulates Macrophage Recruitment into the Cochlea and Promotes the Survival of Spiral Ganglion Neurons after Selective Hair Cell Lesion Open
Macrophages are recruited into the cochlea in response to injury caused by acoustic trauma or ototoxicity, but the nature of the interaction between macrophages and the sensory structures of the inner ear remains unclear. The present study…
View article
Inhibition of ferroptosis protects House Ear Institute‐Organ of Corti 1 cells and cochlear hair cells from cisplatin‐induced ototoxicity Open
Ferroptosis is a recently recognized form of non‐apoptotic cell death caused by an iron‐dependent accumulation of lipid hydroperoxides, which plays important roles in a wide spectrum of pathological conditions. The present study was aimed …
View article
A cell-type-specific atlas of the inner ear transcriptional response to acoustic trauma Open
Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) results from a complex interplay of damage to the sensory cells of the inner ear, dysfunction of its lateral wall, axonal retraction of type 1C spiral ganglion neurons, and activation of the immune respons…
View article
Variable number of TMC1-dependent mechanotransducer channels underlie tonotopic conductance gradients in the cochlea Open
Functional mechanoelectrical transduction (MET) channels of cochlear hair cells require the presence of transmembrane channel-like protein isoforms TMC1 or TMC2. We show that TMCs are required for normal stereociliary bundle development an…
View article
Adenosine A<sub>1</sub>Receptor Protects Against Cisplatin Ototoxicity by Suppressing the NOX3/STAT1 Inflammatory Pathway in the Cochlea Open
Cisplatin is a commonly used antineoplastic agent that produces ototoxicity that is mediated in part by increasing levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) via the NOX3 NADPH oxidase pathway in the cochlea. Recent studies implicate ROS gene…
View article
Changes in the regulation of the Notch signaling pathway are temporally correlated with regenerative failure in the mouse cochlea Open
Sensorineural hearing loss is most commonly caused by the death of hair cells in the organ of Corti, and once lost, mammalian hair cells do not regenerate. In contrast, other vertebrates such as birds can regenerate hair cells by stimulati…
View article
Anti CD163+, Iba1+, and CD68+ Cells in the Adult Human Inner Ear Open
We have immunohistochemically identified an unappreciated class of cells in the normal adult inner ear consistent in staining characteristics and morphology with macrophages/microglia. As in other organ systems, it is likely these cells pl…
View article
Amplification and Suppression of Traveling Waves along the Mouse Organ of Corti: Evidence for Spatial Variation in the Longitudinal Coupling of Outer Hair Cell-Generated Forces Open
Mammalian hearing sensitivity and frequency selectivity depend on a mechanical amplification process mediated by outer hair cells (OHCs). OHCs are situated within the organ of Corti atop the basilar membrane (BM), which supports sound-evok…
View article
Three-dimensional tonotopic mapping of the human cochlea based on synchrotron radiation phase-contrast imaging Open
The human cochlea transforms sound waves into electrical signals in the acoustic nerve fibers with high acuity. This transformation occurs via vibrating anisotropic membranes (basilar and tectorial membranes) and frequency-specific hair ce…
View article
Exosomes mediate sensory hair cell protection in the inner ear Open
Hair cells, the mechanosensory receptors of the inner ear, are responsible for hearing and balance. Hair cell death and consequent hearing loss are common results of treatment with ototoxic drugs, including the widely used aminoglycoside a…
View article
Cell-Specific Transcriptome Analysis Shows That Adult Pillar and Deiters' Cells Express Genes Encoding Machinery for Specializations of Cochlear Hair Cells Open
The mammalian auditory sensory epithelium, the organ of Corti, is composed of hair cells and supporting cells. Hair cells contain specializations in the apical, basolateral and synaptic membranes. These specializations mediate mechanotrans…
View article
Fine-tuning of Notch signaling sets the boundary of the organ of Corti and establishes sensory cell fates Open
The signals that induce the organ of Corti and define its boundaries in the cochlea are poorly understood. We show that two Notch modifiers, Lfng and Mfng, are transiently expressed precisely at the neural boundary of the organ of Corti. C…
View article
Murine CMV-Induced Hearing Loss Is Associated with Inner Ear Inflammation and Loss of Spiral Ganglia Neurons Open
Congenital human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) occurs in 0.5-1% of live births and approximately 10% of infected infants develop hearing loss. The mechanism(s) of hearing loss remain unknown. We developed a murine model of CMV induced hearing los…
View article
Cochlear progenitor number is controlled through mesenchymal FGF receptor signaling Open
The sensory and supporting cells (SCs) of the organ of Corti are derived from a limited number of progenitors. The mechanisms that regulate the number of sensory progenitors are not known. Here, we show that Fibroblast Growth Factors (FGF)…
View article
Generating inner ear organoids containing putative cochlear hair cells from human pluripotent stem cells Open
In view of the prevalence of sensorineural hearing defects in an ageing population, the development of protocols to generate cochlear hair cells and their associated sensory neurons as tools to further our understanding of inner ear develo…
View article
The Frequency Response of Outer Hair Cell Voltage-Dependent Motility Is Limited by Kinetics of Prestin Open
The voltage-dependent protein SLC26a5 (prestin) underlies outer hair cell electromotility (eM), which is responsible for cochlear amplification in mammals. The electrical signature of eM is a bell-shaped nonlinear capacitance (NLC), derivi…
View article
Selective Deletion of Cochlear Hair Cells Causes Rapid Age-Dependent Changes in Spiral Ganglion and Cochlear Nucleus Neurons Open
During nervous system development, critical periods are usually defined as early periods during which manipulations dramatically change neuronal structure or function, whereas the same manipulations in mature animals have little or no effe…
View article
Cochlear outer hair cell electromotility enhances organ of Corti motion on a cycle-by-cycle basis at high frequencies in vivo Open
Significance The remarkable high-frequency sensitivity of mammalian hearing depends on the amplification of sound-evoked cochlear vibrations by outer hair cells. One way that outer hair cells are proposed to generate amplifying forces is t…
View article
Timing of the reticular lamina and basilar membrane vibration in living gerbil cochleae Open
Auditory sensory outer hair cells are thought to amplify sound-induced basilar membrane vibration through a feedback mechanism to enhance hearing sensitivity. For optimal amplification, the outer hair cell-generated force must act on the b…
View article
Maturation of Na <sub>V</sub> and K <sub>V</sub> Channel Topographies in the Auditory Nerve Spike Initiator before and after Developmental Onset of Hearing Function Open
Auditory nerve excitation and thus hearing depend on spike-generating ion channels and their placement along the axons of auditory nerve fibers (ANFs). The developmental expression patterns and native axonal locations of voltage-gated ion …
View article
Whole Mount Dissection and Immunofluorescence of the Adult Mouse Cochlea Open
The organ of Corti, housed in the cochlea of the inner ear, contains mechanosensory hair cells and surrounding supporting cells which are organized in a spiral shape and have a tonotopic gradient for sound detection. The mouse cochlea is a…
View article
Organ of Corti and Stria Vascularis: Is there an Interdependence for Survival? Open
Cochlear hair cells and the stria vascularis are critical for normal hearing. Hair cells transduce mechanical stimuli into electrical signals, whereas the stria is responsible for generating the endocochlear potential (EP), which is the dr…
View article
Cochlear amplification and tuning depend on the cellular arrangement within the organ of Corti Open
Significance While the near-crystalline structure of the organ-of-Corti cytoarchitecture in the mammalian cochlea has been known for some time, its functional consequences on hearing remain to be established. The present computational-mode…
View article
Lack of Fractalkine Receptor on Macrophages Impairs Spontaneous Recovery of Ribbon Synapses After Moderate Noise Trauma in C57BL/6 Mice Open
Noise trauma causes loss of synaptic connections between cochlear inner hair cells (IHCs) and the spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs). Such synaptic loss can trigger slow and progressive degeneration of SGNs. Macrophage fractalkine signaling is…
View article
Modulation of Wnt Signaling Enhances Inner Ear Organoid Development in 3D Culture Open
Stem cell-derived inner ear sensory epithelia are a promising source of tissues for treating patients with hearing loss and dizziness. We recently demonstrated how to generate inner ear sensory epithelia, designated as inner ear organoids,…
View article
Acoustic Trauma Modulates Cochlear Blood Flow and Vasoactive Factors in a Rodent Model of Noise-Induced Hearing Loss Open
Noise exposure affects the organ of Corti and the lateral wall of the cochlea, including the stria vascularis and spiral ligament. Although the inner ear vasculature and spiral ligament fibrocytes in the lateral wall consist of a significa…
View article
Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Middle Ear Inflammation Disrupts the cochlear Intra-Strial Fluid–Blood Barrier through Down-Regulation of Tight Junction Proteins Open
Middle ear infection (or inflammation) is the most common pathological condition that causes fluid to accumulate in the middle ear, disrupting cochlear homeostasis. Lipopolysaccharide, a product of bacteriolysis, activates macrophages and …