In vitro and in vivo models: What have we learnt about inner ear regeneration and treatment for hearing loss?

Summary

The sensory cells of the inner ear, called hair cells, do not regenerate spontaneously and therefore, hair cell loss and subsequent hearing loss are permanent in humans. Conversely, functional hair cell regeneration can be observed in non-mammalian vertebrate species like birds and fish. Also, during postnatal development in mice, limited regenerative capacity and the potential to isolate stem cells were reported. Together, these findings spurred the interest of current research aiming to investigate the endogenous regenerative potential in mammals. In this review, we summarize current in vitro based approaches and briefly introduce different in vivo model organisms utilized to study hair cell regeneration. Furthermore, we present an overview of the findings that were made synergistically using both, the in vitro and in vivo based tools. Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Authors Lee MP, Waldhaus J
Journal Molecular and cellular neurosciences
Publication Date 2022 May;120:103736
PubMed 35577314
PubMed Central PMC9551661
DOI 10.1016/j.mcn.2022.103736

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