Precursors of cochlear and vestibular hair cells of the inner ear exit the cell cycle at midgestation. Hair cells are mitotically quiescent during late-embryonic differentiation stages and postnatally. We show here that the retinoblastoma gene Rb and the encoded protein pRb are expressed in differentiating and mature hair cells. In addition to Rb, the cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor (CKI) p21...

Aminoglycoside antibiotics are widely used for the treatment of life-threatening bacterial infections, but cause permanent hearing loss in a substantial proportion of treated patients. The sensory hair cells of the inner ear are damaged following entry of these antibiotics via the mechano-electrical transducer (MET) channels located at the tips of the hair cell's stereocilia. d-Tubocurarine (dT...

In turtle posterior cristae, cholinergic vestibular efferent neurons (VENs) synapse on type II hair cells, bouton afferents innervating type II hair cells, and afferent calyces innervating type I hair cells. Electrical stimulation of VENs releases acetylcholine (ACh) at these synapses to exert diverse effects on afferent background discharge including rapid inhibition of bouton afferents and ex...

Mechanosensory hair cells within the zebrafish lateral line spontaneously regenerate after aminoglycoside-induced death. Exposure of 5-d-old larvae to 400 microM neomycin for 1 h results in death of almost all lateral line hair cells. Regeneration of new hair cells is observed by 24 h after neomycin treatment with nearly complete replacement by 72 h. Using bromodeoxyuridine incorporation, we sh...

Citation: Li Y, Jia S, Liu H, Tateya T, Guo W, Yang S, Beisel KW and He DZZ (2018) Characterization of Hair Cell-Like Cells Converted From Supporting Cells After Notch Inhibition in Cultures of the Organ of Corti From Neonatal Gerbils. Front. Cell. Neurosci. 12:73. doi: 10.3389/fncel.2018.00073 The senses of hearing and balance depend upon hair cells, the sensory receptors of the inner ear. Hai...

As sensory cells, hair cells within the mammalian inner ear convert sounds into receptor potentials when their projecting stereocilia are deflected. The organ of Corti of the cochlea contains two types of hair cell, inner and outer hair cells, which differ in function. It has been appreciated for over two decades that although inner hair cells act as the primary receptor cell for the auditory s...

Auditory function in the mammalian inner ear is optimized by collaboration of two classes of sensory cells known as inner and outer hair cells. Outer hair cells amplify and tune sound stimuli that are transduced and transmitted by inner hair cells. Although they subserve distinct functions, they share a number of common properties. Here we compare the properties of mechanotransduction and adapt...

Recent studies have demonstrated that the Notch signaling pathway regulates the differentiation of sensory hair cells in the vertebrate inner ear [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]. We have shown previously that in mice homozygous for a targeted null mutation of the Jagged2 (Jag2) gene, which encodes a Notch ligand, supernumerary hair cells differentiate in the cochlea of the inner ear [7]. Ot...

Background: Scarring (cicatricial) alopecia represents a complex group of inflammatory disorders, mainly characterized by destruction of the hair follicle unit. Lichen planopilaris (LPP) and discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE) are the two main causes of primary cicatricial alopecia (PCA), both leading to hair follicle destruction and irreversible alopecia. However, they are different in pathogene...

PURPOSE To determine whether activated Notch can promote a supporting cell fate during sensory cell differentiation in the inner ear. METHODS An activated form of the Notch1 receptor (NICD) was expressed in early differentiating hair cells using a Gfi1-Cre mouse allele. To determine the effects of activated Notch on developing hair cells, Gfi1-NICD animals and their littermate controls were a...