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Hearing loss caused by aging, noise, and some cancer therapy medications and antibiotics has been irreversible because scientists have not been able to reprogram existing cells to develop into the outer and inner ear sensory cells — essential for hearing — once they die.

But Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered a single master gene that programs ear hair cells into either outer or inner ones, overcoming a major hurdle that had previously prevented the development of these cells to restore hearing, according to new research published today (May 4, 2022) in the journal Nature.

[...] Currently, scientists can produce an artificial hair cell, but it does not differentiate into an inner or outer cell, each of which provides different essential functions to produce hearing. The discovery is a major step toward developing these specific cells.

The death of outer hair cells made by the cochlea is most often the cause of deafness and hearing loss. The cells develop in the embryo and do not reproduce. The outer hair cells expand and contract in response to the pressure from sound waves and amplify sound for the inner hair cells. The inner cells transmit those vibrations to the neurons to create the sounds we hear.

[...] . "We can now figure out how to make specifically inner or outer hair cells and identify why the latter are more prone to dying and cause deafness, "García-Añoveros said. He stressed this research is still in the experimental stage.

Title		Restoring Hearing: New Tool to Create Ear Hair Cells Lost Due to Aging or Noise
Date		Friday May 13 2022, @11:57AM
Author		hubie
Topic
from the hearing-is-believing dept.

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